How to map collections in Dozer

Question

I'd like to do something like:

ArrayList<CustomObject> objects = new ArrayList<CustomObject>();
...
DozerBeanMapper MAPPER = new DozerBeanMapper();
...
ArrayList<NewObject> newObjects = MAPPER.map(objects, ...); 

Assuming:

<mapping>
  <class-a>com.me.CustomObject</class-a>
  <class-b>com.me.NewObject</class-b>   
    <field>  
      <a>id</a>  
      <b>id2</b>  
    </field>  
</mapping>

I tried :

ArrayList<NewObject> holder = new ArrayList<NewObject>();
MAPPER.map(objects, holder);

but the holder object is empty. I also played with changing the second argument without any luck...

Answer 1

To quote:

"Nested collections are handled automatically, but you are correct that top level collections need to be iterated over. Currently there isn't a more elegant way to handle this."

Someone has figured a way to do it without a looping construct in your code base, but I think it's just easier (and more readable/maintainable) to put it in your code. Hopefully they'll add this ability sooner than later.