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Thread: Casting Confusion

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    Default Casting Confusion

    Here is a simplified case of my problem. In the real world the Object is a two-dimensional array with dissimilar object types so I can't just make it an array of ArrayList.

    import java.util.ArrayList;
     
    public class Test {
     
    	Object o = new ArrayList<String>();
     
    	public Test() {
    		ArrayList<String> l = (ArrayList<String>)o;
    	}
     
    	public static void main(String[] main) {
    		new Test();
    	}
    }

    The compiler (J2SE 1.7.0-b147) complains:


    Test.java:8: warning: [unchecked] unchecked cast
    ArrayList<String> l = (ArrayList<String>)o;
    ^
    required: ArrayList<String>
    found: Object
    1 warning


    How can I fix this warning?
    Your recommendations will be appreciated.

    p.s. The caret in the warning actually points to the object reference at the end of the line.


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    Default Re: Casting Confusion

    You can use instanceof to check the type.

    if(o instanceof ArrayList<String>)
    {
        ArrayList<String> l = (ArrayList<String>) o;
    }

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    Default Re: Casting Confusion

    Thanks helloworld922 but that doesn't solve my problem. The instanceof operator is evaluated at runtime and my problem is a compiler warning. What I need is the correct cast syntax.

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    Default Re: Casting Confusion

    Hmm... interesting. I thought that would get rid of the error, but doing some testing it seems that's not the case. Yes, it is a runtime check but I seem to remember there being some "code structure" checks Java did for potential problems like this... guess this isn't one of them.

    Strictly speaking this should be "safe" in this case because no one can access o before this cast, and it is guaranteed here to be initialized to an ArrayList of Strings. I don't know if your actual code is, so the check would probably still be helpful.

    You can also add the @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") annotation to this to get the compiler to stop complaining, or change your code.

    More info: java - Type safety: Unchecked cast - Stack Overflow

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    Default Re: Casting Confusion

    I get the impression that you're using parallel arrays to store data rather than creating a class to organize the data in an OOP way. Parallel arrays are to be avoided whenever possible in favor of a more OOP approach.

    Your 2D array of dissimilar types could be modified to be an array (or ArrayList) of a single type with the single type containing the dissimilar types as fields:
    public class MyDissimilarData
    {
        // instance variables
        Type1 data1;
        Type2 data2;
     
        // constructor
        public MyDissimilarData( Type1 data1, Type2 data2 )
        {
            // etc . . . 
        }
     
        //  etc . . . . 
    }

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