Subclassing a Java Builder class

Just for the record, to get rid of the

unchecked or unsafe operations warning

for the return (T) this; statement as @dimadima and @Thomas N. talk about, following solution applies in certain cases.

Make abstract the builder which declares the generic type (T extends Builder in this case) and declare protected abstract T getThis() abstract method as follows:

public abstract static class Builder<T extends Builder<T>> {

    private int calories = 0;

    public Builder() {}

    /** The solution for the unchecked cast warning. */
    public abstract T getThis();

    public T calories(int val) {
        calories = val;

        // no cast needed
        return getThis();
    }

    public NutritionFacts build() { return new NutritionFacts(this); }
}

Refer to http://www.angelikalanger.com/GenericsFAQ/FAQSections/ProgrammingIdioms.html#FAQ205 for further details.

Based off of a blog post, this approach requires all the non-leaf classes to be abstract, and all the leaf classes must be final.

public abstract class TopLevel {
    protected int foo;
    protected TopLevel() {
    }
    protected static abstract class Builder
        <T extends TopLevel, B extends Builder<T, B>> {
        protected T object;
        protected B thisObject;
        protected abstract T createObject();
        protected abstract B thisObject();
        public Builder() {
            object = createObject();
            thisObject = thisObject();
        }
        public B foo(int foo) {
            object.foo = foo;
            return thisObject;
        }
        public T build() {
            return object;
        }
    }
}

Then, you have some intermediate class that extends this class and its builder, and as many more as you need:

public abstract class SecondLevel extends TopLevel {
    protected int bar;
    protected static abstract class Builder
        <T extends SecondLevel, B extends Builder<T, B>> extends TopLevel.Builder<T, B> {
        public B bar(int bar) {
            object.bar = bar;
            return thisObject;
        }
    }
}

And, finally a concrete leaf class that can call all the builder methods on any of its parents in any order:

public final class LeafClass extends SecondLevel {
    private int baz;
    public static final class Builder extends SecondLevel.Builder<LeafClass,Builder> {
        protected LeafClass createObject() {
            return new LeafClass();
        }
        protected Builder thisObject() {
            return this;
        }
        public Builder baz(int baz) {
            object.baz = baz;
            return thisObject;
        }
    }
}

Then, you can call the methods in any order, from any of the classes in the hierarchy:

public class Demo {
    LeafClass leaf = new LeafClass.Builder().baz(2).foo(1).bar(3).build();
}

You can solve it using generics. I think this is called the "Curiously recurring generic patterns"

Make the return type of the base class builder methods a generic argument.

public class NutritionFacts {

    private final int calories;

    public static class Builder<T extends Builder<T>> {

        private int calories = 0;

        public Builder() {}

        public T calories(int val) {
            calories = val;
            return (T) this;
        }

        public NutritionFacts build() { return new NutritionFacts(this); }
    }

    protected NutritionFacts(Builder<?> builder) {
        calories = builder.calories;
    }
}

Now instantiate the base builder with the derived class builder as the generic argument.

public class GMOFacts extends NutritionFacts {

    private final boolean hasGMO;

    public static class Builder extends NutritionFacts.Builder<Builder> {

        private boolean hasGMO = false;

        public Builder() {}

        public Builder GMO(boolean val) {
            hasGMO = val;
            return this;
        }

        public GMOFacts build() { return new GMOFacts(this); }
    }

    protected GMOFacts(Builder builder) {
        super(builder);
        hasGMO = builder.hasGMO;
    }
}