How do I copy an object in Java?

Question

Consider the code below:

DummyBean dum = new DummyBean();
dum.setDummy("foo");
System.out.println(dum.getDummy()); // prints 'foo'

DummyBean dumtwo = dum;
System.out.println(dumtwo.getDummy()); // prints 'foo'

dum.setDummy("bar");
System.out.println(dumtwo.getDummy()); // prints 'bar' but it should print 'foo'

So, I want to copy the dum to dumtwo and change dum without affecting the dumtwo. But the code above is not doing that. When I change something in dum, the same change is happening in dumtwo also.

I guess, when I say dumtwo = dum, Java copies the reference only. So, is there any way to create a fresh copy of dum and assign it to dumtwo?

Answer 1

Just follow as below:

public class Deletable implements Cloneable{

    private String str;
    public Deletable(){
    }
    public void setStr(String str){
        this.str = str;
    }
    public void display(){
        System.out.println("The String is "+str);
    }
    protected Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
        return super.clone();
    }
}

and wherever you want to get another object, simple perform cloning. e.g:

Deletable del = new Deletable();
Deletable delTemp = (Deletable ) del.clone(); // this line will return you an independent
                                 // object, the changes made to this object will
                                 // not be reflected to other object

Answer 2

Deep Cloning is your answer, which requires implementing the Cloneable interface and overriding the clone() method.

public class DummyBean implements Cloneable {

   private String dummy;

   public void setDummy(String dummy) {
      this.dummy = dummy;
   }

   public String getDummy() {
      return dummy;
   }

   @Override
   public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
      DummyBean cloned = (DummyBean)super.clone();
      cloned.setDummy(cloned.getDummy());
      // the above is applicable in case of primitive member types, 
      // however, in case of non primitive types
      // cloned.setNonPrimitiveType(cloned.getNonPrimitiveType().clone());
      return cloned;
   }
}

You will call it like this DummyBean dumtwo = dum.clone();

Answer 3

Pass the object that you want to copy and get the object you want:

private Object copyObject(Object objSource) {
        try {
            ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
            ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(bos);
            oos.writeObject(objSource);
            oos.flush();
            oos.close();
            bos.close();
            byte[] byteData = bos.toByteArray();
            ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(byteData);
            try {
                objDest = new ObjectInputStream(bais).readObject();
            } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return objDest;

    }

Now parse the objDest to desired object.

Happy Coding!