Bug 96449

Generate code menu (alt-insert or in editor context menu) is not enough?

Having the IDE generate the toString() method, for a JavaBean object, and not
have to write the output code for each property yourself, is one of the
enhancements that I mean.

A proposed format for a generated toString() method can be:

Original class:

public class Bean {

   private String field1;
   private String field2;

}

Tostring method:
(Its a good practice to keep the output on one line. And use nested toString() methods on sub objects.

public String toString(){
   return "Bean[" + 
      "field1=" + field1 +
      ",field2=" + field2 +
      "]";
}

A proposed generation for compareters can be:

public class Bean {

   private String field1;
   private String field2;

}

Add a compareter for field1 causes this public innner class for others to use on a list of Beans.
Use nested compareters on sub-objects or the compareto (then that object chooses a default comparetor)
Use normal datatype comparison on strings, int's etc.

public static final Comparator FIELD1_ORDER = new Comparator(){
   public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
      Bean compare1 = (Bean) o1;
      Bean compare2 = (Bean) o2;
      return compare1.field1.compareTo(compare2.field1);
   }
};

Adding a compareTo method and compariable interface is a matter of choise of the default comparetor to use in the bean.

public int compareTo(Object o){
   return FIELD1_ORDER.compare(this,o);
}

If we use generics in comparison genration the result can be:

public class Bean implements Comparable<Bean>{
...

public static final Comparator<Bean> FIELD1_ORDER = new Comparator<Bean>(){
   public int compare(Bean compare1, Bean compare2) {
      return compare1.field1.compareTo(compare2.field1);
   }
};

public int compareTo(Bean o){
   return FIELD1_ORDER.compare(this,o);
}
}