[BEANUTILS-281] BeanUtils.cloneBean and Covariant (Overriding) return types

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Won't Fix
• Fix Version/s: 1.10.0
• Component/s: Bean / Property Utils

Environment

JDK1.5

• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Onur Kutlu GAGO
• Created: 05/Jun/07 13:45
• Updated: 14/Apr/24 12:49
• Resolved: 12/Jul/07 22:12

Description

BeanUtils.cloneBean(Object) method does not copy the fields that are overriden by the subclasses. For example, consider an abstract class(AbstractVehicle) where you define an abstract getter for a field.

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public abstract class AbstractVehicle

{ public abstract Serializable getField(); }

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In a class (Car) that extends this abstract class (AbstractVehicle) you define the field itself and override the return type of the getter method (from Serializable to Integer):

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public class Car extends AbstractVehicle {

private Integer field = null;

@Override
public Integer getField()

{ return field; }

public void setField(Integer field)

{ this.field = field; }

}
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When you clone such objects (Car) this field is not copied! The following code prints 'null' instead of 5!

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public class CopyTestMain {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException, InvocationTargetException, NoSuchMethodException

{ final Car aCar = new Car(); aCar.setField(5); final Car copyCar = (Car) BeanUtils.cloneBean(aCar); System.out.println("Field = " + copyCar.getField()); }

}
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