[Springframework-developer] Alternative to Commons BeanUtils

[Matt S. <mat...@ve...>]

Hello, I'm developing a reflection and conversion library that is more =
powerful and flexible than PropertyEditors and Commons BeanUtils.  I =
wanted to post a message letting Spring developers know because Rod =
Johnson mentioned in his first book that there really wasn't a good =
reflection library out there.

Here's a (temporary) link until the SourceForge project is started:
http://www.crystalcognition.com/sgarlatm/morph/

Here's some more information on the approach I've taken
- In place of a registry that tries to 'pick' the right converter (e.g. =
- PropertyEditorManager, ConvertUtils.register), I have the Converters =
themselves say which objects they can and cannot convert.  The user =
assembles these converters (programmatically, or via an IoC framework) =
in whatever order they like into a mega-converter, if you will, that =
will function more similarly to the ConvertUtils.convert method in =
BeanUtils.  This 'mega-converter' conforms to the simple Converter =
interface like every other, 'non-mega' converter.
- In place of BeanUtils.copyProperties there is a Copier interface.  It =
is very similar to the Converter interface, but it's original intent was =
different: to copy data from one location to another, where creating a =
new object doesn't make sense.  For example, let's say we want to store =
information from a Map or an object graph as separate attributes in an =
HTTP request.  We can't just create a new HTTP request object... it =
already exists!  So we use a Copier.  Basically, Converters are for the =
simple stuff like primitives, Dates, etc and Copiers are for fancier =
things like Object[] -> List.  You can always take something that is =
written with the Copier interface and expose it as a Converter but not =
vice-versa (The net.sf.morph.converters.CopierConverter class exposes a =
Copier as a Converter).
- While working on Copiers, I realized I needed to be able to pull =
information out of various different types of things: objects and maps =
are simple examples, but I might also want to be able to pull info from =
HTTP request parameters, etc.  This is what Reflectors are for.  They =
help Copiers get the job done.

A lot of these ideas are still being fleshed out.  I would love to hear =
any comments you may have.  Thanks,

Matt