The JavaTM Tutorial

| Start of Tutorial > Start of Trail > Start of Lesson | Search Feedback Form

Trail: Collections
Lesson: Interoperability

## Compatibility

> The Collection Framework was designed to ensure complete interoperability between the new collection interfaces and the types that have traditionally been used to represent collections: `Vector`, `Hashtable`, array, and `Enumeration`. In this section, you'll learn how to transform traditional collections to new collections and vice-versa.

### Upward Compatibility

> Suppose that you're using an API that returns traditional collections in tandem with another API that requires objects implementing the collection interfaces introduced in JDK 1.2. To make the two APIs interoperate smoothly, you'll have to transform the traditional collections into new collections. Luckily, the Collection Framework makes this easy.

> Suppose that the old API returns an array of objects, and the new API requires a `Collection`. As discussed in the implementations lesson, the collections framework has a convenience implementation that allows an array of objects to be viewed as a `List`. Using `Arrays.asList`, an array can be passed to any method requiring a `Collection` or a `List`:

> >         Foo[] result = oldMethod(arg);
> >         newMethod(Arrays.asList(result));

> If the old API returns a `Vector` or `Hashtable` you have no work to do at all, since `Vector` has been retrofitted to implement the `List` interface, and `Hashtable` has been retrofitted to implement `Map`. Thus, a `Vector` may be passed directly to any method calling for a `Collection` or a `List`:

> >         Vector result = oldMethod(arg);
> >         newMethod(result);

> Similarly, a `Hashtable` may be passed directly to any method calling for a `Map`:

> >         Hashtable result = oldMethod(arg);
> >         newMethod(result);

> Less frequently, an API may return an `Enumeration` that represents a collection of objects. While there is no direct support for translating an `Enumeration` into a `Collection`, it's a simple matter to create a `Collection` containing all the elements returned by an `Enumeration`:

> >         Enumeration e = oldMethod(arg);
> >         List l = new ArrayList();
> >         while (e.hasMoreElements())
> >             l.add(e.nextElement());
> >         newMethod(l);

### Backward Compatibility

> Suppose you're using an API that returns "new collections" in tandem with another API that requires you to pass in "traditional collections". To make the two APIs interoperate smoothly, you have to transform the new collections into traditional collections. Again, the Collection Framework makes this easy. Gosh, isn't this your lucky day?

> Suppose that the new API returns a `Collection`, and the old API requires an array of `Object`. As you're probably aware, the `Collection` interface contains a `toArray` method, designed expressly for this situation:

> >         Collection c = newMethod();
> >         oldMethod(c.toArray());

> What if the old API requires an array of `String` (or some other type) instead of an array of `Object`? All hope is not lost. You just use the other form of `toArray`, the one that takes an array on input:

> >         Collection c = newMethod();
> >         oldMethod((String[]) c.toArray(new String[0]));

> If the old API requires a `Vector`, the standard collection constructor comes in handy:

> >         Collection c = newMethod();
> >         oldMethod(new Vector(c));

> The case where the old API requires a `Hashtable` is handled analogously:

> >         Map m = newMethod();
> >         oldMethod(new Hashtable(m));

> Finally, what do you do if the old API requires an `Enumeration`? This case isn't common, but it does happen from time to time, and the `Collections.enumeration` method was provided to handle it. This method is a static factory that takes a `Collection` and returns an `Enumeration` over the elements of the `Collection`:

> >         Collection c = newMethod();
> >         oldMethod(Collections.enumeration(c));

| Start of Tutorial > Start of Trail > Start of Lesson | Search Feedback Form

Copyright 1995-2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.