How to create DTO class

Question

I want to create DTO class for User. my input to program is firstname, lastname,lastname.role,group1,group2,group3.

so for each user role consist of group_1,group_2,group_3.....

In database i want to store in following format demo,demo,demo,roleId, gorup_1_name group_1_Id demo,demo,demo,roleId, gorup_2 and group_2_Id demo,demo,demo,roleId, gorup_3 and group_3_Id

I was able separate all this things , but i want to assign this value to userDTO class and stored into database. basically im new to core java part. so how can create structure for this?

Answer 1

A Data Transfer Object (DTO) class is a java-bean like artifact that holds the data that you want to share between layer in your SW architecture.

For your usecase, it should look more or less like this:

public class UserDTO {
    String firstName;
    String lastName;
    List<String> groups;

    public String getFirstName() {
        return firstName;
    }
    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
    }
    public String getLastName() {
        return lastName;
    }
    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
        this.lastName = lastName;
    }

    public List<String> getGroups() {
        return groups;
    }
    public void setGroups(List<String> groups) {
        this.groups = groups;
    }
    // Depending on your needs, you could opt for finer-grained access to the group list

}

Answer 2

One thing to add:

The essence of a DTO is that it transfers data across the wire. So it will need to be Serializable.

http://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/dataTransferObject.html