https://kotlinlang.org logo
Channels
100daysofcode
100daysofkotlin
100daysofkotlin-2021
advent-of-code
aem
ai
alexa
algeria
algolialibraries
amsterdam
android
android-architecture
android-databinding
android-studio
androidgithubprojects
androidthings
androidx
androidx-xprocessing
anime
anko
announcements
apollo-kotlin
appintro
arabic
argentina
arkenv
arksemdevteam
armenia
arrow
arrow-contributors
arrow-meta
ass
atlanta
atm17
atrium
austin
australia
austria
awesome-kotlin
ballast
bangladesh
barcelona
bayarea
bazel
beepiz-libraries
belgium
benchmarks
berlin
big-data
books
boston
brazil
brikk
budapest
build
build-tools
bulgaria
bydgoszcz
cambodia
canada
carrat
carrat-dev
carrat-feed
chicago
chile
china
chucker
cincinnati-user-group
cli
clikt
cloudfoundry
cn
cobalt
code-coverage
codeforces
codemash-precompiler
codereview
codingame
codingconventions
coimbatore
collaborations
colombia
colorado
communities
competitive-programming
competitivecoding
compiler
compose
compose-android
compose-desktop
compose-hiring
compose-ios
compose-mp
compose-ui-showcase
compose-wear
compose-web
confetti
connect-audit-events
corda
cork
coroutines
couchbase
coursera
croatia
cryptography
cscenter-course-2016
cucumber-bdd
cyprus
czech
dagger
data2viz
databinding
datascience
dckotlin
debugging
decompose
decouple
denmark
deprecated
detekt
detekt-hint
dev-core
dfw
docs-revamped
dokka
domain-driven-design
doodle
dsl
dublin
dutch
eap
eclipse
ecuador
edinburgh
education
effective-kotlin
effectivekotlin
emacs
embedded-kotlin
estatik
event21-community-content
events
exposed
failgood
fb-internal-demo
feed
firebase
flow
fluid-libraries
forkhandles
forum
fosdem
fp-in-kotlin
framework-elide
freenode
french
fritz2
fuchsia
functional
funktionale
gamedev
ge-kotlin
general-advice
georgia
geospatial
german-lang
getting-started
github-workflows-kt
glance
godot-kotlin
google-io
gradle
graphic
graphkool
graphql
graphql-kotlin
graviton-browser
greece
grpc
gsoc
gui
hackathons
hacktoberfest
hamburg
hamkrest
helios
helsinki
hexagon
hibernate
hikari-cp
hire-me
hiring
hiring-french
hongkong
hoplite
http4k
hungary
hyderabad
image-processing
india
indonesia
inkremental
intellij
intellij-plugins
intellij-tricks
internships
introduce-yourself
io
ios
iran
israel
istanbulcoders
italian
jackson-kotlin
jadx
japanese
jasync-sql
java-to-kotlin-refactoring
javadevelopers
javafx
javalin
javascript
jdbi
jhipster-kotlin
jobsworldwide
jpa
jshdq
juul-libraries
jvm-ir-backend-feedback
jxadapter
k2-early-adopters
kaal
kafka
kakao
kalasim
kapt
karachi
karg
karlsruhe
kash_shell
kaskade
kbuild
kdbc
kgen-doc-tools
kgraphql
kinta
klaxon
klock
kloudformation
kmdc
kmm-espaƱol
kmongo
knbt
knote
koalaql
koans
kobalt
kobweb
kodein
kodex
kohesive
koin
koin-dev
komapper
kondor-json
kong
kontent
kontributors
korau
korean
korge
korim
korio
korlibs
korte
kotest
kotest-contributors
kotless
kotlick
kotlin-asia
kotlin-beam
kotlin-by-example
kotlin-csv
kotlin-data-storage
kotlin-foundation
kotlin-fuel
kotlin-in-action
kotlin-inject
kotlin-latam
kotlin-logging
kotlin-multiplatform-contest
kotlin-mumbai
kotlin-native
kotlin-pakistan
kotlin-plugin
kotlin-pune
kotlin-roadmap
kotlin-samples
kotlin-sap
kotlin-serbia
kotlin-spark
kotlin-szeged
kotlin-website
kotlinacademy
kotlinbot
kotlinconf
kotlindl
kotlinforbeginners
kotlingforbeginners
kotlinlondon
kotlinmad
kotlinprogrammers
kotlinsu
kotlintest
kotlintest-devs
kotlintlv
kotlinultimatechallenge
kotlinx-datetime
kotlinx-files
kotlinx-html
kotrix
kotson
kovenant
kprompt
kraph
krawler
kroto-plus
ksp
ktcc
ktfmt
ktlint
ktor
ktp
kubed
kug-leads
kug-torino
kvision
kweb
lambdaworld_cadiz
lanark
language-evolution
language-proposals
latvia
leakcanary
leedskotlinusergroup
lets-have-fun
libgdx
libkgd
library-development
lincheck
linkeddata
lithuania
london
losangeles
lottie
love
lychee
macedonia
machinelearningbawas
madrid
malaysia
mathematics
meetkotlin
memes
meta
metro-detroit
mexico
miami
micronaut
minnesota
minutest
mirror
mockk
moko
moldova
monsterpuzzle
montreal
moonbean
morocco
motionlayout
mpapt
mu
multiplatform
mumbai
munich
mvikotlin
mvrx
myndocs-oauth2-server
naming
navigation-architecture-component
nepal
new-mexico
new-zealand
newname
nigeria
nodejs
norway
npm-publish
nyc
oceania
ohio-kotlin-users
oldenburg
oolong
opensource
orbit-mvi
osgi
otpisani
package-search
pakistan
panamĆ”
pattern-matching
pbandk
pdx
peru
philippines
phoenix
pinoy
pocketgitclient
polish
popkorn
portugal
practical-functional-programming
proguard
prozis-android-backup
pyhsikal
python
python-contributors
quasar
random
re
react
reaktive
realm
realworldkotlin
reductor
reduks
redux
redux-kotlin
refactoring-to-kotlin
reflect
refreshversions
reports
result
rethink
revolver
rhein-main
rocksdb
romania
room
rpi-pico
rsocket
russian
russian_feed
russian-kotlinasfirst
rx
rxjava
san-diego
science
scotland
scrcast
scrimage
script
scripting
seattle
serialization
server
sg-user-group
singapore
skia-wasm-interop-temp
skrape-it
slovak
snake
sofl-user-group
southafrica
spacemacs
spain
spanish
speaking
spek
spin
splitties
spotify-mobius
spring
spring-security
squarelibraries
stackoverflow
stacks
stayhungrystayfoolish
stdlib
stlouis
strife-discord-lib
strikt
students
stuttgart
sudan
swagger-gradle-codegen
swarm
sweden
swing
swiss-user-group
switzerland
talking-kotlin
tallinn
tampa
teamcity
tegal
tempe
tensorflow
terminal
test
testing
testtestest
texas
tgbotapi
thailand
tornadofx
touchlab-tools
training
tricity-kotlin-user-group
trójmiasto
truth
tunisia
turkey
turkiye
twitter-feed
uae
udacityindia
uk
ukrainian
uniflow
unkonf
uruguay
utah
uuid
vancouver
vankotlin
vertx
videos
vienna
vietnam
vim
vkug
vuejs
web-mpp
webassembly
webrtc
wimix_sentry
wwdc
zircon
Powered by
Title
k

Kaj Koivunen

01/23/2023, 10:30 AM
how do I call the constructor of a generic type? Say I have something like
class foo<T: Interface>() {
    var something: T? = null
    init {
        something = T("bar") //doesn't work
    }
}
I have an interface, the implementing classes of which have a constructor that takes one string. I'd like to make a class that can take any type that implements the interface and be able to cosntruct an instance of said class.
j

Joffrey

01/23/2023, 10:31 AM
You can't, because you cannot guarantee that every
T
that implements
Interface
will have a constructor that takes a single string argument.
What are you trying to do, in a broader sense? This sounds like an XY problem
k

Kaj Koivunen

01/23/2023, 10:34 AM
I have a machine translation program that can implement several translation APIs like google translate and deepl. These are implemented as children of a common interface. I'd like to also add tornadoFX fragments that can set the api key of each of these classes through a settings dialog. Right now I have a separate form for each but this duplicates code when really the only unique part of the settings form is the type of translation backend class it uses
if I made the interface an abstract class instead and gave it a constructor with the same arguments this would work then?
v

Vampire

01/23/2023, 10:37 AM
Same problem. Just that the abstract class has that constructor does not mean a subclass has such a constructor.
k

Kaj Koivunen

01/23/2023, 10:38 AM
so the generics can't really be used with polymorphism then?
what's the idiomatic workaround to not being able to construct the generic type?
s

Sam

01/23/2023, 10:40 AM
class Foo<T>(val something: T) {
    constructor(init: (String) -> T): this(init("bar"))
}

class Bar(val value: String)

val foo = Foo(::Bar)
j

Joffrey

01/23/2023, 10:40 AM
You can pass a function to the
Foo
class
Ah, Sam beat me to it šŸ˜„
k

Kaj Koivunen

01/23/2023, 10:44 AM
yeah just found on stack overflow to pass a (String) -> T to it
ty
j

Joffrey

01/23/2023, 10:45 AM
You can also store the function itself as a property of the class, if you need to use it multiple times, or call it later instead of immediately at construction time:
class Foo<T>(private val createThing: (String) -> T) {
    fun doStuff() {
        val thing = createThing()
        // ...
    }
}