Is there a way to initialize an object from a prim...

# getting-started

[scottiedog45]

Is there a way to initialize an object from a primitive type? Something like

data class Foo(val a: String) {
    
    init {
        //magic that takes string and sets it to a
    }
}

var Bar : Foo = "b"

[Shawn]

No. Generally speaking, Kotlin avoids this kind of implicit behavior

[Shawn]

maybe consider an extension function?

fun String.asFoo() = Foo(this)

val bar = "b".asFoo()

[Shawn]

it’s maybe not as concise as just calling the constructor, but maybe it fits better in your code, stylistically speaking

[scottiedog45]

Yeah it makes sense - I’ve seen something analogous in Swift so I was wondering if I was missing out on a language feature thanks for the tip and recommendation 😃

[Shawn]

You also might consider just using a typealias, though that wouldn’t have the same type safety as ExpressibleByStringLiteral

[scottiedog45]

interesting. I’m not seeing how typealias helps here, would you have a quick example?

[Shawn]

I just mean in the case where you literally only want a better name for your String usage - if your string-containing data class has other functionality, then you’re right that a typealias won’t help

[scottiedog45]

aah got it thanks 😁