Thread: ArrayList.contains method does not work on user-defined data types

I am trying to remove the duplicate elements from ArrayList using .contains() if elements are primitive datatype it works but user-defined datatype does not work.

public class UserBean {
    String name;
    String address;
 
    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }
 
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
 
    public String getAddress() {
        return address;
    }
 
    public void setAddress(String address) {
        this.address = address;
    }
 
}
 
 
 
 
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
 
public class Main {
    public static void main(String args[]){
        UserBean bean=new UserBean();
        List<UserBean> userInfo=new ArrayList();
        bean.setName("rob");
        bean.setAddress("mumbai");
        userInfo.add(bean);
        bean=new UserBean();
        bean.setName("bob");
        bean.setAddress("pune");
        userInfo.add(bean);
        bean=new UserBean();
        bean.setName("rob");
        bean.setAddress("mumbai");
        userInfo.add(bean);
        bean=new UserBean();
        bean.setName("bob");
        bean.setAddress("pune");
        userInfo.add(bean);
        List<UserBean> finalList=new ArrayList();
        finalList.add(userInfo.get(0));
        for(UserBean temp:userInfo){
        if(!finalList.contains(temp)){
            finalList.add(temp);
        }
    }
        for(UserBean temp:finalList){
            System.out.println(temp.getName()+" "+temp.getAddress());
        }
    }
}

I get following output:
rob mumbai
bob pune
rob mumbai
bob pune

From the ArrayList API, you can see that the contains() method uses the equals() method to determine if one object is the same as another. As is often the case for user-defined classes, the default equals() method (inherited from ?) is insufficient to accurately determine equality, so you should override equals(), writing your own code to determine equality.

I will also have to override hashcode method along with equals but the bean is in the jar if there is any other way I will be very thankful as editing the jar is my last resort.

You could wrap it up in a class adapter or object adapter.
Read up on these, perhaps on wikipedia:
Adapter pattern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you very much it worked I just extended the bean class and override the equals and hashCode methods.