Utilities used to help with the interactions with POJO.

ObjectUtils

import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;

/**
 * Created by DMCApps
 * 
 * Utilities used to help with the interactions with POJO.
 */
public final class ObjectUtils {
    private static final String TAG = ObjectUtils.class.getSimpleName();

    private ObjectUtils() {}

    /**
     * This is a seudo method of the C#/Swift as keyword.
     * It will check the type of obj and cast to the appropriate class if it is that type or return null it not.
     * This gives us a more defensive style of programming and performs the type casting in a single line.
     * This replaces the notion of using
     *
     * <code>
     *    if (objX instanceof ClassY) {
     *        ClassY objY = (ClassY)objX;
     *        // continue code here
     *    }
     * </code>
     *
     * Example use:
     * <code>
     *    ClassY objY = ObjectUtil.as(objX, ClassY.class);
     *    if (objY == null) {
     *      // Handle null
     *    }
     *    // continue code here.
     * </code>
     *
     * @param
     *      object -> The object to be checked with as
     * @param
     *      asClass -> The class type we are checking object against
     * @param
     *      <T> -> The type of class that we anticipate returning
     * @return
     *      The object casted to the given class or<br />
     *      null if it's not that type of class
     */
    public static <T> T as(Class<T> asClass, Object object) {
        return asClass.isInstance(object) ? asClass.cast(object) : null;
    }

    /**
     * This method makes a "deep clone" of a POJO object it is given.
     * <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/a/6183597/845038">Deep Copy vs Shallow Copy</a>
     *
     * @param
     *      object -> Object to clone
     * @return
     *      The cloned object.
     * @throws IOException
     * @throws ClassNotFoundException
     */
    public static <T> T deepClone(Class<T> clazz, T object) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(baos);
        oos.writeObject(object);

        ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray());
        ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(bais);
        return as(clazz, ois.readObject());
    }
}