Cannot find setter for field - using Kotlin with Room database

Question

I'm integrating with the Room persistence library. I have a data class in Kotlin like:

@Entity(tableName = "story")
data class Story (
        @PrimaryKey val id: Long,
        val by: String,
        val descendants: Int,
        val score: Int,
        val time: Long,
        val title: String,
        val type: String,
        val url: String
)

The @Entity and @PrimaryKey annotations are for the Room library. When I try to build, it is failing with error:

Error:Cannot find setter for field.
Error:Execution failed for task ':app:compileDebugJavaWithJavac'.
> Compilation failed; see the compiler error output for details.

I also tried providing a default constructor:

@Entity(tableName = "story")
data class Story (
        @PrimaryKey val id: Long,
        val by: String,
        val descendants: Int,
        val score: Int,
        val time: Long,
        val title: String,
        val type: String,
        val url: String
) {
    constructor() : this(0, "", 0, 0, 0, "", "", "")
}

But this doesn't work as well. A thing to note is that it works if I convert this Kotlin class into a Java class with getters and setters. Any help is appreciated!

user_5710872 · Answer

There is an issue in room db library java code generation.

I was using optional field isFavorite. It gives me same error then I change my field name to favorite then compiled.

before var isFavorite: Int? = 0, after changing working fine var favorite: Int? = 0, Thanks

user_2914140 · Answer

According to https://stackoverflow.com/a/46753804/2914140 if you have an autogenerated primary key, you should write so:

@Entity(tableName = "story")
data class Story (
        val by: String,
        val descendants: Int,
        val score: Int,
        val time: Long,
        val title: String,
        val type: String,
        val url: String
)  {
    @PrimaryKey(autoGenerate = true)
    var id: Int = 0
}

Note that @PrimaryKey is written inside the class body and contains modifier var.

If you later want to update a row in a database with different parameters, use these lines:

val newStory = story.copy(by = "new author", title = "new title") // Cannot use "id" in object cloning
newStory.id = story.id
dao.update(newStory)

UPDATE

I still don't use AndroidX, and Room is 'android.arch.persistence.room:runtime:1.1.1'.

You can extend this class from Serializable. But if you want to extend it from Parcelable, you will get a warning (over id variable): Property would not be serialized inro a 'Parcel'. Add '@IgnoredOnParcel' annotation to remove this warning:

Then I moved an id from the body to the constructor. In Kotlin I use @Parcelize to create Parcelable classes:

@Parcelize
@Entity(tableName = "story")
data class Story (
    @PrimaryKey(autoGenerate = true)
    var id: Int = 0,

    val by: String,
    val descendants: Int,
    val score: Int,
    val time: Long,
    val title: String,
    val type: String,
    val url: String
) : Parcelable

user_355985 · Answer

If you have @Ignore field in the data class constructor you need to move it to class body like this:

@Entity(primaryKeys = ["id"])
data class User(
        @field:SerializedName("id")
        val id: Int,

        @field:SerializedName("name")
        val name: String,
    
        @field:SerializedName("age")
        val age: Int
) {
    @Ignore
    val testme: String?
}

All kudos go to marianperca on GitHub: https://github.com/android/architecture-components-samples/issues/421#issuecomment-442763610

user_9650668 · Answer

This error will be thrown if your column starts with Is:

@ColumnInfo(name = "IsHandicapLeague")
    @NonNull
    var isHandicapLeague: String = "Y"

Add a default set() function to eliminate

fun setIsHandicapLeague(flag:String) {
    isHandicapLeague = flag
}

user_602094 · Answer

This is a bug and is fixed in Room 2.1.0-alpha01

https://developer.android.com/jetpack/docs/release-notes#october_8_2018

Bug Fixes

Room will now properly use Kotlin’s primary constructor in data classes avoiding the need to declare the fields as vars. b/105769985

user_8526705 · Answer

I've found that another cause of this compilation error can be due to the use of the Room's @Ignore annotation on fields of your entity data class:

@Entity(tableName = "foo")
data class Foo(

    // Okay
    @PrimaryKey
    val id: String,

    // Okay
    val bar: String,

    // Annotation causes compilation error, all fields of data class report
    // the "Cannot find setter for field" error when Ignore is present
    @Ignore
    val causeserror: String
)

The same error also seems to happens when using the @Transient annotation.

I've noticed this issue using version 2.2.2 of Room:

// build.gradle file
dependencies {
   ...
   kapt "androidx.room:room-compiler:2.2.2"
   ...
}

Hope that helps someone!

user_11062003 · Answer

Just make the variables mutable, change val into var for Kotlin, Or private into public for Java

user_8037902 · Answer

You can try to rename id variable to another name. It worked for me ;

var id: Long? = null

to

var workerId: Long? = null

If you have to name as id and you are using retrofit, then you may need to add SerializedName("id")

user_2170074 · Answer

Another cause of this may be the naming of the field. If you use any of the pre-defined keywords, you will get the same error. For instance, you can not name your column "is_active".

Reference: http://www.sqlite.org/lang_keywords.html

user_5481069 · Answer

It seems like Room and Kotlin versions need to be matched. I have same issue with Room 2.3.0 and Kotlin 1.6.10 but it's ok with Kotlin 1.5.20. It looks ok after I updated Room to 2.4.2. https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KT-45883

Also there is a possible solution to use @JvmOverloads constructor for better Java compability.

user_5073012 · Answer

Just an update if somebody comes across this thread in 2019, after spending hours digging online on why this should work, but it doesn't.

Using val works as expected if you are using the AndroidX version ( androidx.room:room-:2.*) but it doesn't when using the old android.arch.persistence.room::1.1.1 and it seems that version 2.* wasn't released on this latter repo.

Edit: typos

user_3763032 · Answer

If you want the val immutability available for your entity, it is possible.

@Entity("tbl_abc")
data class Abc(
    @PrimaryKey
    val id: Int = 0, 
    val isFavourite: Boolean = false
)

Previously, the above snippet will throw an error of Cannot find setter for field. Changing into var is a great workaround, but I prefer for the entity class to be immutable from outside invocation

user_8532826 · Answer

Updating Room library to the latest version 2.4.2 solve the issue

user_8266752 · Answer

The correct way to fix this issue would be simply updating to Room v2.4.3 or higher.

Workaround

If you're running on an older version of Room, one that uses an old version of the kotlinx-metadata-jvm library which doesn't understand 1.5.x metadata, a simple workaround would be adding the following line to your build.gradle:

kapt "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-metadata-jvm:0.5.0"

Source: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/KT-45883/KAPT-Cannot-find-setter-for-field-compiling-projects-with-Room-db-breaks-using-150-M2

user_4614807 · Answer

You can now start your field with is but you can't have a number next to the is like : is2FooSelected, you have to rename to isTwoFooSelected.

user_19681003 · Answer

I think that the variable we wrote as id is getting mixed up with the id in the system. Therefore, when I define it as uuid, my error is resolved. I think it will be solved too. Also, try using var instead of val.

@PrimaryKey(autoGenerate = true) var uuid:Int=0

user_1745917 · Answer

Just use var instead of val and if you are using private keyword, make it public.

@Entity(tableName = "story")
data class Story (
        @PrimaryKey val id: Long,
        var by: String,
        var descendants: Int,
        var score: Int,
        var time: Long,
        var title: String,
        var type: String,
        var url: String
)

Cannot find setter for field - using Kotlin with Room database

20 Answers

Workaround