How to define 2 constructors with 2 different type of HashMaps?

Question

I have a class with 2 HashMap fields as follows-

HashMap<String, Integer> map1;
HashMap<String, String> map2;

Now, I want to only pass one of the maps in the constructor, that is either of type of map1 or of map2. However, I am not able to define 2 different constructors with HashMaps of different types. Is that a workaround for this?

Answer 1

A few options:

1) One constructor that takes both maps and is safe when passed a null.

public MyClass( Map<String, Integer> map1, Map<String, String> map2 ) {
    if ( map1 != null ) { this.map1 = map1; }
    if ( map2 != null ) { this.map2 = map2; }
}

2) Setters for each map

public MyClass {
    private Map<String, Integer> map1;
    private Map<String, String> map2;
    public void setMap1( Map<String, Integer> map1 ) {
        this.map1 = map1;
    }
    public void setMap2( Map<String, String> map2 ) {
        this.map2 = map2;
    }
}

3) A builder that allows you to differentiate between the maps and constructs the object properly (calling the setters)

public MyClass {
    private Map<String, Integer> map1;
    private Map<String, String>  map2;
    // pretend you don't want people to be able to swap out the map after construction so you protect the setter here.
    protected void setMap1( Map<String, Integer> map1 ) {
        this.map1 = map1;
    }
    protected void setMap1( Map<String, String> map2 ) {
        this.map2 = map2;
    }
    // getters for the maps and other properties
    public static Builder builder() {
        return new Builder();
    }
    public static class Builder {
        private Map<String, Integer> map1;
        private Map<String, String> map2;
        public Builder withMap1( Map<String, Integer> map ) {
            map1 = map;
            return this;
        }
        public Builder withMap2( Map<String, String> map ) {
            map2 = map;
            return this;
        }
        public MyClass build() {
            MyClass c = new MyClass();
            // possibly conditional code that inspects the maps for specific values or validity
            c.setMap1( map1 );
            c.setMap2( map2 );
            // initialization of other fields
            return c;
        }
    }

    public static void main( String[] args ) {
        // sample usage
        MyClass instance1 = MyClass.builder().withMap1(myMap1).build();
        MyClass instance2 = MyClass.builder().withMap2(myMap2).build();
        MyClass instance3 = MyClass.builder().withMap1(myMap1).withMap2(myMap2).build();
    }
}

4) Static factory (as pointed out by Evgeniy Dorofeev below)

public MyClass {
    private Map<String, Integer> map1;
    private Map<String, String> map2;
    // other properties

    private MyClass() {}

    public static MyClass withMap1(Map<String, Integer> map ) {
        MyClass c = new MyClass();
        c.map1 = map;
        return c;
    }
    public static MyClass withMap2(Map<String, String> map ) {
        MyClass c = new MyClass();
        c.map2 = map;
        return c;
    }
    // getters and setters
}