How to ignore null values using springframework BeanUtils copyProperties?

I advise you to use ModelMapper.

This is a sample code that solves your doubt.

      ModelMapper modelMapper = new ModelMapper();
modelMapper.getConfiguration().setSkipNullEnabled(true).setMatchingStrategy(MatchingStrategies.STRICT);

      Company a = new Company();
      a.setId(123l);
      Company b = new Company();
      b.setId(456l);
      b.setName("ABC");

      modelMapper.map(a, b);

      System.out.println("->" + b.getName());

It should print the B value. But if you set the "A" name, the result is a print of "A" value.

The secret is changing the value of SkipNullEnabled to true.

ModelMapper

ModelMapper MVN

Java 8 version of getNullPropertyNames method from alfredx's post:

public static String[] getNullPropertyNames(Object source) {
    final BeanWrapper wrappedSource = new BeanWrapperImpl(source);
    return Stream.of(wrappedSource.getPropertyDescriptors())
            .map(FeatureDescriptor::getName)
            .filter(propertyName -> wrappedSource.getPropertyValue(propertyName) == null)
            .toArray(String[]::new);
}

You can create your own method to copy properties while ignoring null values.

public static String[] getNullPropertyNames (Object source) {
    final BeanWrapper src = new BeanWrapperImpl(source);
    java.beans.PropertyDescriptor[] pds = src.getPropertyDescriptors();

    Set<String> emptyNames = new HashSet<String>();
    for(java.beans.PropertyDescriptor pd : pds) {
        Object srcValue = src.getPropertyValue(pd.getName());
        if (srcValue == null) emptyNames.add(pd.getName());
    }

    String[] result = new String[emptyNames.size()];
    return emptyNames.toArray(result);
}

// then use Spring BeanUtils to copy and ignore null using our function
public static void myCopyProperties(Object src, Object target) {
    BeanUtils.copyProperties(src, target, getNullPropertyNames(src));
}