Home | | Web Programming | Storing User-Defined Classes in Collections

Chapter: Java The Complete Reference : The Java Library : java.util : The Collections Framework

Storing User-Defined Classes in Collections

For the sake of simplicity, the foregoing examples have stored built-in objects, such as String or Integer, in a collection.

Storing User-Defined Classes in Collections

 

For the sake of simplicity, the foregoing examples have stored built-in objects, such as String or Integer, in a collection. Of course, collections are not limited to the storage of built-in objects. Quite the contrary. The power of collections is that they can store any type of object, including objects of classes that you create. For example, consider the following example that uses a LinkedList to store mailing addresses:

 

// A simple mailing list example.

import java.util.*;

 

class Address { private String name; private String street;

private String city; private String state; private String code;

 

Address(String n, String s, String c,

 

String st, String cd) {

 

name = n; street = s; city = c; state = st; code = cd;

 

}

 

public String toString() {

 

return        name + "\n" + street + "\n" + city + " " + state + " " + code;

}

 

}

 

class MailList {

 

public static void main(String args[]) { LinkedList<Address> ml = new LinkedList<Address>();

 

// Add elements to the linked list.

ml.add(new Address("J.W. West", "11 Oak Ave",

 

"Urbana", "IL", "61801")); ml.add(new Address("Ralph Baker", "1142 Maple Lane",

 

"Mahomet", "IL", "61853")); ml.add(new Address("Tom Carlton", "867 Elm St",

// Display the mailing list.

for(Address element : ml)

 

System.out.println(element + "\n");

 

System.out.println();

 

}

 

}

 

The output from the program is shown here:

 

J.W. West

 

11 Oak Ave

 

Urbana IL 61801

 

Ralph Baker

 

1142 Maple Lane

 

Mahomet IL 61853

 

Tom Carlton

 

867 Elm St

 

Champaign IL 61820

 

Aside from storing a user-defined class in a collection, another important thing to notice about the preceding program is that it is quite short. When you consider that it sets up a linked list that can store, retrieve, and process mailing addresses in about 50 lines of code, the power of the Collections Framework begins to become apparent. As most readers know, if all of this functionality had to be coded manually, the program would be several times longer. Collections offer off-the-shelf solutions to a wide variety of programming problems. You should use them whenever the situation presents itself.

 

Study Material, Lecturing Notes, Assignment, Reference, Wiki description explanation, brief detail
Java The Complete Reference : The Java Library : java.util : The Collections Framework : Storing User-Defined Classes in Collections |


Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, DMCA Policy and Compliant

Copyright © 2018-2024 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. Developed by Therithal info, Chennai.