One way mapping in Dozer using custom converter

Question

Please note: while I would accept an XML-based solution if that's truly the only way to accomplish what I'm looking for, I would greatly prefer a solution using Dozer's Java API.

I am new to Dozer and am trying to figure out how to use its API. It seems to default to field-level mappings (if the field names match) and to allow for custom mappers and converters in the event that field-level mapping (based on field name) is either not possible or not logical for your application needs.

I have a situation where my app will take a DTO, say, ReportedIssue (an issue reported by a user and sent to my application over HTTP), and an Issue entity (a data entity that will be persisted to a MySQL DB).

Here are my two objects:

@Data
public class ReportedIssue {

    private String typeRefId;
    private String reporterRefId;
    private String info;

}

@Entity
@Table(name = "issues")
@Data
public class Issue {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;

    @Column(name = "issue_ref_id")
    private String refId;

    @Column(name = "issue_tracking_number")
    private String trackingNumber;

    @OneToOne(fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST, CascadeType.MERGE})
    @JoinColumn(name = "issue_type_id", referencedColumnName = "issue_type_id")
    private IssueType type;

    @Column(name = "issue_reported_on")
    private Date reportedOn;

    @OneToOne(fetch = FetchType.EAGER, cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST, CascadeType.MERGE})
    @JoinColumn(name = "issue_reporter_id", referencedColumnName = "account_id")
    private Account reporter;

    @Column(name = "issue_info")
    private String info;

}

So in the application frontend, a user can report an issue. The frontend sends a JSON version of a ReportedIssue to the backend, where that JSON is deserialized into a ReportedIssue DTO bean. Then I need Dozer to convert my ReportedIssue into an Issue entity that I can then easily save to my MySQL DB.

Here is my best attempt:

public class ReportedIssueConverter extends DozerConverter {

    private AuthService authService;

    public ReportedIssueConverter(AuthService authService, Class prototypeA, Class prototypeB) {
      super(prototypeA, prototypeB);
      this.authService = authService;
    }

    public ReportedIssueConverter(Class prototypeA, Class prototypeB) {
        super(prototypeA, prototypeB);
    }

    @Override
    public Issue convertTo(ReportedIssue source, Issue destination) {

        Issue issue = new Issue();
        issue.setRefId(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
        issue.setType(IssueUtils.determineType(source));
        issue.setReportedOn(DateTimeUtils.nowInUTC());
        issue.setReporter(authService.currentUser());
        issue.setInfo(destination.getInfo());

        return issue;

    }

    @Override
    public ReportedIssue convertFrom(Issue source, ReportedIssue destination) {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("we currently don't map from issues to reported issues");
    }

}

Several concerns here. For one, is such a custom converter even necessary? Or is there a "better" (more standards compliant or using generally-accepted Dozer practices) way to use the Dozer API to perform this conversion? But mainly, this DozerConverter seems to be intended for bi-directional mapping use cases. Whereas, in my application, I will never have an Issue instance and need to map it back to a ReportedIssue DTO instance. So I only need one-way mapping from ReportedIssue --> Issue. Am I using Dozer correctly by throwing an UnsupportedOperationException or is there another interface or API trick I can use to only leverage the one-way mapping I need?

user_7804477 · Answer

It could actually be done without a custom converter using custom getter methods in your dto class corresponding to fields in Issue. Dozer works by mapping each field in destination class by trying to invoke the getter method of the corresponding name in the source class.

public class ReportedIssue {
    // fields.......

    public String getRefId() {
        UUID.randomUUID().toString()
    }

    public IssueType getType() {
        IssueUtils.determineType(this);
    }

    // similarly create getters for other required fields.

}

But for reporter field in Issue, you need an AuthService object. I would suggest writing a static method as below:

public static Issue getIssue(AuthService auth, ReportedIssue dto) {
    Issue issue = //map using dozer
    issue.setReporter(authService.currentUser());
    return issue;
}

user_10454072 · Answer

Gauntham answer will work. Another option:

Implement a com.github.dozermapper.core.BeanFactory Your custom BeanFactory can handle

Issue issue = new Issue();
issue.setRefId(UUID.randomUUID().toString());
issue.setReportedOn(DateTimeUtils.nowInUTC());
issue.setReporter(authService.currentUser());

Then depending on your preferences, this could also go into the bean factory

issue.setType(IssueUtils.determineType(source));

Or you could handle that separately in the mapping. Something would need to know how to call IssueUtils, so that is either 1) a customer converter or 2) a change to the DTO or entity to have the functionality through a getter or setter.

Finally, this line would be handled in the Dozer Java API mapping

issue.setInfo(destination.getInfo());

Personally, I like Dozer's com.github.dozermapper.core.loader.api.BeanMappingBuilder where you can explicitly tell it how to map 2 beans, specify the bean factory to use and the custom converter for a specific field.

mapping(ReportedIssue.class, Issue.class, oneWay(), wildcard(true), beanFactory(IssueBeanFactory.class.getName()).fields("this", "type", customConverter(IssueTypeConverter.class)

oneWay(), wildcard(boolean), and beanFactory(String) are found in Dozer's TypeMappingOptions and customConverter(Class.class) is found in Dozer's FieldMappingOptions.

oneWay() makes the mapping work only in the direction specified in the BeanMappingBuilder.
wildcard(true) tells Dozer to automatically map matching fields (this is default behavior).

One way mapping in Dozer using custom converter

2 Answers