Generics

ModelMapper uses TypeTokens to allow mapping of generic parameterized types.

Example

Let’s say you want to map a List of Integers to a List of Strings:

List<Integer> numbers = buildIntegers();
List<String> characters = new ArrayList<String>();

modelMapper.map(numbers, characters);

Unfortunately, characters is populated with Integer instances, not String instances as expected. The reason is ModelMapper doesn’t know that characters is supposed to contain String instances since that type information is erased at runtime. So it creates another List of Integers. The workaround? Use TypeTokens:

Type listType = new TypeToken<List<String>>() {}.getType();
List<String> characters = modelMapper.map(numbers, listType);

Here we create an anonymous subclass of the TypeToken class, passing List<String> as the type parameter. This allows the resulting listType to contain the captured type information that is otherwise erased at runtime so that ModelMapper knows we mean to map numbers to a List of Strings.