how to clone an object in android?

Question

What would be the best way to copy/clone an object in java/android?

rlBodyDataObj rlbo = bdoTable.get(name);

Right now the code assigns an object from a hashTable, yet I need to get a clone of it, so that I'd be able to use it multiple times.

Answer 1

Make sure that your DataObj class implements Cloneable and add the following method

protected Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
        return super.clone();
}

Then you should be able to call (DataObj)rlBodyDataObj.clone(); to get a clean copy (note the cast).

Answer 2

class Test implements Cloneable
  {
   ...
      public Object clone()
      {
          try
      {
              return super.clone();
          }
      catch( CloneNotSupportedException e )
      {
              return null;
          }
      } 
  ...
  }

Answer 3

you can implements Parcelable (easy with studio plugin), and then

public static <T extends Parcelable> T copy(T orig) {
    Parcel p = Parcel.obtain();
    orig.writeToParcel(p, 0);
    p.setDataPosition(0);
    T copy = null;
    try {
        copy = (T) orig.getClass().getDeclaredConstructor(new Class[]{Parcel.class}).newInstance(p);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return copy;
}

Answer 4

Sometimes you need to modify some fields before returning from the clone() method.

Check this : http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html#clone(). I pasted the relevant part here for convenience:

"By convention, the object returned by this method should be independent of this object (which is being cloned). To achieve this independence, it may be necessary to modify one or more fields of the object returned by super.clone before returning it. Typically, this means copying any mutable objects that comprise the internal "deep structure" of the object being cloned and replacing the references to these objects with references to the copies. If a class contains only primitive fields or references to immutable objects, then it is usually the case that no fields in the object returned by super.clone need to be modified."