java - What is a JavaBean exactly? https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3295496/what...

java - What is a JavaBean exactly?

I understood, I think, that a "Bean" is a Java class with properties and getters/setters.
As much as I understand, it is the equivalent of a C struct. Is that true?

Also, is there a real syntactic difference between a bean and a regular class? Is there
any special definition or an interface?

Basically, why is there a term for this?

Edit: If you can be so kind and add information regarding the Serializable interface,
and what it means, to your answer, I'd be very grateful.

asked Jul 21 '10 at 0:41

A JavaBean is just a standard

1. All properties private (use getters/setters)

2. A public no-argument constructor
3. Implements Serializable.

That's it. It's just a convention. Lots of libraries depend on it though.

With respect to Serializable, from the API documentation:

Serializability of a class is enabled by the class implementing the

java.io.Serializable interface. Classes that do not implement this interface
will not have any of their state serialized or deserialized. All subtypes of
a serializable class are themselves serializable. The serialization interface
has no methods or fields and serves only to identify the semantics of
being serializable.

In other words, serializable objects can be written to streams, and hence files, object
databases, anything really.

Also, there is no syntactic difference between a JavaBean and another class -- a class
defines a JavaBean if it follows the standards.

There is a term for it because the standard allows libraries to programmatically do

things with class instances you define in a predefined way. For example, if a library

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wants to stream any object you pass into it, it knows it can because your object is
serializable (assuming the lib requires your objects be proper JavaBeans).

answered Jul 21 '10 at 0:45

There's a term for it to make it sound special. The reality is nowhere near so
mysterious.

Basically, a "Bean":

is a serializable object (that is, it implements java.io.Serializable, and does

so correctly), that
has "properties" whose getters and setters are just methods with certain names
(like, say, getFoo() is the getter for the "Foo" property), and
has a public 0-arg constructor (so it can be created at will and configured by
setting its properties).

Update:

As for Serializable: That is nothing but a "marker interface" (an interface that
doesn't declare any functions) that tells Java that the implementing class consents to
(and implies that it is capable of) "serialization" -- a process that converts an instance
into a stream of bytes. Those bytes can be stored in files, sent over a network
connection, etc, and have enough info to allow a JVM (at least, one that knows about
the object's type) to reconstruct the object later -- possibly in a different instance of
the application, or even on a whole other machine!

Of course, in order to do that, the class has to abide by certain limitations. Chief
among them is that all instance fields must be either primitive types (int, bool, etc),
instances of some class that is also serializable, or marked as transient so that Java
won't try to include them. (This of course means that transient fields will not survive
the trip over a stream. A class that has transient fields should be prepared to
reinitialize them if necessary.)

A class that can not abide by those limitations should not implement Serializable
(and, IIRC, the Java compiler won't even let it do so.)

answered Jul 21 '10 at 0:50

JavaBeans are Java classes which adhere to an extremely simple coding convention.

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All you have to do is to

1. Implement java.io.Serializable interface - To save the state of an object

2. use a public empty argument constructor - To instantiate the object
3. And provide public getter and setter methods - To get and set the values of
private variables (properties ).

answered Jul 21 '10 at 4:22

Properties of JavaBeans

A JavaBean is a Java object that satisfies certain programming conventions:

1. The JavaBean class must implement either Serializable or Externalizable

2. The JavaBean class must have a no-arg constructor

3. All JavaBean properties must have public setter and getter methods

4. All JavaBean instance variables should be private

Example of JavaBeans

@Entity
public class Employee implements Serializable{

@Id
private int id;
private String name;
private int salary;

public Employee() {}

public Employee(String name, int salary) {

this.name = name;
this.salary = salary;
}
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId( int id ) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName( String name ) {
this.name = name;
}

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public int getSalary() {

return salary;
}
public void setSalary( int salary ) {
this.salary = salary;
}
}

answered Jan 24 '14 at 9:33

Java Beans are using for less code and more work approach... Java Beans are used
throughout Java EE as a universal contract for runtime discovery and access. For
example, JavaServer Pages (JSP) uses Java Beans as data transfer objects between
pages or between servlets and JSPs. Java EE's JavaBeans Activation Framework uses
Java Beans for integrating support for MIME data types into Java EE. The Java EE
Management API uses JavaBeans as the foundation for the instrumentation of
resources to be managed in a Java EE environment.

About Serialization:

In object serialization an object can be represented as a sequence of bytes that

includes the object's data as well as information about the object's type and the types
of data stored in the object.

After a serialized object has been written into a file, it can be read from the file and
deserialized that is, the type information and bytes that represent the object and its
data can be used to recreate the object in memory.

answered Sep 23 '13 at 7:30

You will find Serialization useful when deploying your project across multiple servers
since beans will be persisted and transferred across them.

answered Jul 21 '10 at 6:03

Explanation with an example.

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1. import java.io.Serializable

As for the Serialization, see the documentation.

2. private fields

Fields should be private for prevent outer classes to easily modify those fields. Instead
of directly accesing to those fields, usuagly getter/setter methods are used.

3. Constructor

A public constructor without any argument.

4. getter/setter

Getter and setter methods for accesing private fields.

/** 1. import java.io.Serializable */

public class User implements java.io.Serializable {
/** 2. private fields */
private int id;
private String name;

/** 3. Constructor */
public User() {
}
public User(int id, String name) {
this.id = id;
this.name = name;
}

/** 4. getter/setter */
// getter
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
// setter
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = is;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}

answered Aug 22 '15 at 12:45

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As per the Wikipedia:

1. The class must have a public default constructor (with no arguments). This
allows easy instantiation within editing and activation frameworks.

2. The class properties must be accessible using get, set, is (can be used for
boolean properties instead of get), and other methods (so-called accessor
methods and mutator methods) according to a standard naming convention.
This allows easy automated inspection and updating of bean state within
frameworks, many of which include custom editors for various types of
properties. Setters can have one or more than one argument.

3. The class should be serializable. [This allows applications and frameworks to

reliably save, store, and restore the bean's state in a manner independent of the
VM and of the platform.]

For more information follow this link.

answered Jun 16 '14 at 11:41

Java Beans is a standard, and its basic syntax requirements have been clearly
explained by the other answers.

However, IMO, it is more than a simple syntax standard. The real meaning or
intended usage of Java Beans is, together with various tool supports around the
standard, to facilitate code reuse and component-based software engineering, i.e.
enable developers to build applications by assembling existing components (classes)
and without having to write any code (or only have to write a little glue code).
Unfortunately this technology is way under-estimated and under-utilized by the
industry, which can be told from the answers in this thread.

If you read Oracle's tutorial on Java Beans, you can get a better understanding in that.

answered May 21 '16 at 15:11

Regarding the second part of your question, Serialization is a persistence mechanism

used to store objects as a sequence of signed bytes. Put less formally, it stores the state
of an object so you can retrieve it later, by de-serialization.

answered Jul 21 '10 at 1:14

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A Java Bean is a java class [conceptual] that should follow following conventions:

1. It should have a no-arg constructor.

2. It should be Serializable.
3. It should provide methods to set and get the values of the properties, known as
getter and setter methods.

It is a reusable software component. It can encapsulate many object into one object so
that same object can be accessed from multiples places and is a step towards easy
maintenance of code.

answered Dec 6 '16 at 8:29

They are serializable, have a zero-argument constructor, and allow access to

properties using getter and setter methods. The name "Bean" was given to encompass
this standard, which aims to create reusable software components for Java.according
to wiki

The objects that form the backbone of your application and that are managed by the
Spring IoC container are called beans. A bean is an object that is instantiated,
assembled, and otherwise managed by a Spring IoC container. Otherwise, a bean is
simply one of many objects in your application. according to spring io.

answered Mar 6 '16 at 0:21

To understand JavaBean you need to notice the followings: JavaBean is a conceptual

stuff and can not represent a class of specific things

JavaBean is a development tool can be visualized in the operation of reusable

software components

JavaBean is based on the Sun JavaBeans specification and can be reusable

components. Its biggest feature is the re-usability.

answered Jul 19 '13 at 3:43

A Java Bean is essentially a class, what classifies a class as a bean is:

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1. It should implement serializable interface (A Marker interface).

2. The constructor should be public and have no arguments (What other people
call it a no-arg constructor).
3. It should have getter and setters.

Good to note the serialVersionUID field is important for maintaining object state.
Below code qualifies as a bean:

public class DataDog implements java.io.Serializable {

private static final long serialVersionUID = -3774654564564563L;

private int id;

private String nameOfDog;

//The constructor should NOT have arguments

public DataDog () {}

/** 4. getter/setter */

// getter(s)
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public String getNameOfDog() {
return nameOfDog;
}
// setter(s)
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public void setNameOfDog(String nameOfDog) {
this.nameOfDog = nameOfDog;
}}

answered Oct 5 '18 at 10:04

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