Hi David J.,
That is an interesting perspective.
Also based on the ideas proposed by Peter, and after a bit of experimentation,
these are my thoughts:
* Java object encapsulation “works", but only if we assume that there is
no such thing as reflection. Since an object can be introspected, it means
that there is no “complete” encapsulation, only “weak” encapsulation.
—> True. Important if thinking about security, maybe, but perhaps not
very convincing to me to change my thinking.
* DTOs are not real “Value Objects” because normally a VO should be immutable.
However, if all we make are copies, and both the producer and consumer
understand
that it is a copy being shipped, then in the end, I cannot see a problem.
It will cause me
to change some habits, but I don’t see a problem.
* Java8 and its “functional” flavour have really started to interest me.
Based mostly on the last two thoughts, I have tried using the pattern I wrote
in my earlier post. In essence:
* API interface - determines the contract with the rest of the world
* DTO - for transmitting and serializing (essential for a working system)
* Implementation object - usually Value Objects, but sometimes Entities
By following most of the DTO rules, which generally means (1) make serialisable
data public, (2) provide a no-arg public constructor, and (3) have a tree-like
structure that only contains other “DTO-type” objects, the DTO can be combined
with the implementation.
This completely eliminates an extra step.
No longer required: serialized data —> DTO —> domain object
New method: serialized data —> DTO (==domain object)
I have even started to make my “simple” DTOs (i.e. pure VOs with little or no
behaviour) part of the API instead of the impl.
I have been very pleased with the results so far. However, if we don’t provide
the possibility to relax the rules on the DTOs a bit, this will no longer be
possible. I would be really sad to not be able to use this pattern, unless of
course somebody has come up with a better / alternate solution.
What you propose below seems like it would encapsulate well, but it seems to me
that the extra step of redirection would cause duplicate work. No?
Cheers,
=David
> On Oct 16, 2016, at 1:10 AM, David Jencks <david_jen...@yahoo.com.INVALID>
> wrote:
>
> A while ago Peter said something about DTOs violating data hiding or
> encapsulation and I decided that if you think of the DTO as a primitive data
> type they don’t. Following this line of thinking (which I have not been
> able to try out in practice, just as thought experiments) you’d have
>
> public class SomeDTO extends DTO {
> public String foo;
> public String bar;
> }
>
> public interface SomeInterface {
> SomeDTO data(); //I’m not sure this is needed
> String calculateFooBar();
> }
>
> public class SomeImpl {
> final SomeDTO data;
> public SomeImpl(SomeDTO data) {this.data = data;}
> public SomeDTO data() {return data;}
> public String calculateFooBar() {return data.foo + “:” + data.bar;}
> }
>
> I’m curious how this would work out in an actual situation, especially in
> knowing fi the “data()” accessor is needed. I’d hope it would only be needed
> for serialization purposes.
>
> thanks
> david jencks
>
>> On Oct 14, 2016, at 9:52 PM, David Leangen <apa...@leangen.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi!
>>
>> I only noticed now that according to the RFC, DTOs cannot contain methods. I
>> can understand why this is so, and I do not object.
>>
>> However, I have found a very practical design pattern whereby I use classes
>> that act both as DTOs and domain value objects. In effect, this means that
>> they are DTOs with methods. I am willing to pay the price of having
>> “bloated” DTOs for this convenience.
>>
>>
>> Would there be any way to allow configuration to permit this?
>>
>> If that is out of the question then any suggestions as to what I could do so
>> as to not have to have “duplicate” classes (DTOs and domain VOs)?
>>
>>
>> Example:
>>
>> Domain object API
>>
>> public interface SomeObject {
>> String foo();
>> String bar();
>> String calculateFoobar();
>> }
>>
>> Implementation
>>
>> public class SomeObjectDTO extends DTO implements SomeObject {
>> public String foo;
>> public String bar;
>>
>> public SomeObjectDTO() {}
>>
>> public SomeObjectDTO( String aFoo, String aBar ) {
>> foo = aFoo; bar = aBar;
>> }
>>
>> @Override public String foo() { return foo; }
>> @Override public String bar() { return bar; }
>> @Override public String calculateFoobar() { return foo + “:” + bar; }
>> }
>>
>>
>> I like the above because:
>> * No duplication
>> * As a DTO, can be sent over the wire and serialised
>> * Implements the domain API
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> =David
>>
>>
>
