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Result Library for Java

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Using the Library

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Add-ons

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Other resources

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Creating Results

How to instantiate new Result objects

There are several ways to create result objects.

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Successful Results

A successful result contains a non-null value produced by an operation when everything works as intended. We can use Results::successarrow-up-right to create a new instance.

@Test
void testSuccess() {
  // When
  Result<Integer, ?> result = Results.success(200);
  // Then
  assertTrue(result::hasSuccess);
  assertFalse(result::hasFailure);
}
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Note that we can invoke or to check whether a result is successful or failed (more on this in the ).

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Failed Results

On the other hand, a failed result holds a value representing the problem that prevented the operation from completing. We can use to create a new one.

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Failure values cannot be null either.

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Results Based on Nullable Values

When we need to create results that depend on a possibly null value, we can use . If the first argument is null, then the second one will be used to create a failed result.

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The second argument can be either a failure value or a function that produces a failure value.

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Results Based on Optionals

We can also use to create results that depend on an value. If the first argument is an empty optional, then the second one will be used to create a failed result.

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The second argument can be a too.

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Results Based on Callables

Finally, if we have a task that may either return a success value or throw an exception, we can encapsulate it as a result using so we don't need to use a try-catch block.

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This method enables compatibility with legacy or third-party code that uses exceptions to indicate operation failure.

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Conclusion

We've covered how to create new instances of Result using various factory methods provided by the Results class. Each method serves a specific purpose, allowing you to select the most suitable one based on the situation.

Result::hasSuccessarrow-up-right
Result::hasFailurearrow-up-right
next section
Results::failurearrow-up-right
Results::ofNullablearrow-up-right
Results::ofOptionalarrow-up-right
Optionalarrow-up-right
Supplierarrow-up-right
Results::ofCallablearrow-up-right
@Test
void testFailure() {
  // When
  Result<?, String> result = Results.failure("The operation failed");
  // Then
  assertTrue(result::hasFailure);
  assertFalse(result::hasSuccess);
}
@Test
void testOfNullable() {
  // Given
  String string1 = "The operation succeeded";
  String string2 = null;
  // When
  Result<String, Integer> result1 = Results.ofNullable(string1, 404);
  Result<String, Integer> result2 = Results.ofNullable(string2, 404);
  // Then
  assertTrue(result1::hasSuccess);
  assertTrue(result2::hasFailure);
}
@Test
void testOfOptional() {
  // Given
  Optional<BigDecimal> optional1 = Optional.of(BigDecimal.ONE);
  Optional<BigDecimal> optional2 = Optional.empty();
  // When
  Result<BigDecimal, Integer> result1 = Results.ofOptional(optional1, -1);
  Result<BigDecimal, Integer> result2 = Results.ofOptional(optional2, -1);
  // Then
  assertTrue(result1::hasSuccess);
  assertTrue(result2::hasFailure);
}
String task1() {
  return "OK";
}

String task2() throws Exception {
  throw new Exception("Whoops!");
}

@Test
void testOfCallable() {
  // When
  Result<String, Exception> result1 = Results.ofCallable(this::task1);
  Result<String, Exception> result2 = Results.ofCallable(this::task2);
  // Then
  assertTrue(result1::hasSuccess);
  assertTrue(result2::hasFailure);
}

Getting Started

How to get up and running with Results in no time

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The best way to think of Results is as a super-powered version of Java's Optionals.

Result builds upon the familiar concept of Optional, enhancing it with the ability to represent both success and failure states.

No need to return null or throw an exception: just return a failed result.

Optional class is useful for representing values that might be present or absent, eliminating the need for null checks. However, Optionals fall short when it comes to error handling because they do not convey why a value is lacking. Result addresses this limitation by encapsulating both successful values and failure reasons, offering a more expressive way to reason about what went wrong.

Results provide the same methods as Optionals, plus additional ones to handle failure states effectively.

By leveraging Results, you can unleash a powerful tool for error handling that goes beyond the capabilities of traditional Optionals, leading to more robust and maintainable Java code.

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Results in a Nutshell

In Java, methods that can fail typically do so by throwing exceptions. Then, exception-throwing methods are called from inside a try block to handle errors in a separate catch block.

This approach is lengthy, and that's not the only problem — it's also very slow.

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Conventional wisdom says exceptional logic shouldn't be used for normal program flow. Results make us deal with expected error situations explicitly to enforce good practices and make our programs .

Let's now look at how the above code could be refactored if connect() returned a Result object instead of throwing an exception.

In the example above, we used only 4 lines of code to replace the 10 that worked for the first one. But we can effortlessly make it shorter by chaining methods. In fact, since we were returning -1 just to signal that the underlying operation failed, we are better off returning a Result object upstream. This will allow us to compose operations on top of getServerUptime() just like we did with connect().

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Result objects are immutable, providing thread safety without the need for synchronization. This makes them ideal for multi-threaded applications, ensuring predictability and eliminating side effects.

Optionalarrow-up-right

Resultarrow-up-right

isPresentarrow-up-right

hasSuccessarrow-up-right

isEmptyarrow-up-right

hasFailurearrow-up-right

getarrow-up-right

run faster
Using Exceptions
Using Results
Embracing Results

getSuccessarrow-up-right
getFailurearrow-up-right
orElsearrow-up-right
orElsearrow-up-right
orElseGetarrow-up-right
orElseMaparrow-up-right
streamarrow-up-right
streamSuccessarrow-up-right
streamFailurearrow-up-right
ifPresentarrow-up-right
ifSuccessarrow-up-right
ifFailurearrow-up-right
ifPresentOrElsearrow-up-right
ifSuccessOrElsearrow-up-right
filterarrow-up-right
filterarrow-up-right
recoverarrow-up-right
maparrow-up-right
mapSuccessarrow-up-right
mapFailurearrow-up-right
maparrow-up-right
flatMaparrow-up-right
flatMapSuccessarrow-up-right
orarrow-up-right
flatMapFailurearrow-up-right
flatMaparrow-up-right

Demo Projects

Check out some REST APIs that consume and produce Result objects

To help you become familiar with this library, you can explore two demo projects that showcase how to handle and serialize Result objects within popular frameworks like Spring Bootarrow-up-right and Micronautarrow-up-right. Each project provides a working example of a "pet store" web service that exposes a REST API for managing pets. They are based on Swagger Petstore Samplearrow-up-right and you can interact with them using Swagger-UIarrow-up-right.

These projects illustrate how to develop powerful APIs using Result objects. Follow the examples to create resilient web services that elegantly handle success and failure scenarios.

Checking Success or Failure

How to find out if the operation succeded or failed

As we discovered earlier, we can easily determine if a given Result instance is successful or not.

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Checking Success

We can use Result::hasSuccessarrow-up-right to obtain a boolean value that represents whether a result is successful.

@Test
void testHasSuccess() {
  // Given
  Result<?, ?> result1 = success(1024);
  Result<?, ?> result2 = failure(1024);
  // When
  boolean result1HasSuccess = result1.hasSuccess();
  boolean result2HasSuccess = result2.hasSuccess();
  // Then
  assertTrue(result1HasSuccess);
  assertFalse(result2HasSuccess);
}

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Checking Failure

We can also use to find out if a result contains a failure value.

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Conclusion

We discussed how to determine the state of a Result object using and . These methods provide a straightforward way to identify the outcome of an operation, helping you make decisions based on the outcome.

Fluent Assertions

How to assert Result objects fluently

You can use fluent assertions for Result objects to enhance the readability and expressiveness of your unit tests. These assertions are based on , an open-source Java library that offers a fluent API for writing assertions in test cases.

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features a comprehensive and intuitive set of strongly-typed assertions for unit testing. It is a popular choice among Java developers due to its effective features and compatibility with various testing frameworks like and .

Bill of Materials

How to declare dependencies without having to worry about version numbers

Tracking multiple add-on versions for your project can quickly become cumbersome. In that situation, you can use the convenient to centralize and align their versions. This ensures compatibility and simplifies dependency maintenance.

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's Bill of Materials POMs are special POM files that group dependency versions known to be valid and tested to work together, reducing the chances of having version mismatches.

The basic idea is that instead of specifying a version number for each Result library in your project, you can use this BOM to get a complete set of consistent versions.

Screening Results

How to reject success values and accept failure values

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Screening mechanisms provide greater flexibility in handling edge cases and enable more robust error recovery strategies.

The following methods allow you to run inline tests on the wrapped value of a result to dynamically transform a success into a failure or a failure into a success.

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Conditional Actions

How to handle success and failure scenarios

We'll now delve into a set of methods that allow you to take conditional actions based on the state of a result. They provide a cleaner and more expressive way to handle success and failure scenarios, eliminating the need for lengthy if/else blocks.

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Handling Success

We can use to specify an action that must be executed if the result represents a successful outcome. This method takes a that will be applied to the success value wrapped by the result.

In this example, ifSuccess

Spring Bootarrow-up-right is a widely-used, JVM-based framework designed to simplify the development of stand-alone, production-ready Spring applications. It emphasizes convention over configuration, allowing developers to get started quickly with minimal setup and leveraging the powerful Spring Frameworkarrow-up-right while minimizing boilerplate code.

rocket-launchTry it in 5 minutes

Micronautarrow-up-right is a modern, JVM-based framework for building lightweight microservices and serverless applications. It focuses on fast startup times and low memory usage. Although not as widely adopted as Spring Bootarrow-up-right, it has gained popularity for its performance and innovative features.

rocket-launchTry it in 5 minutes

Cover
Cover
Cover
Result::hasFailurearrow-up-right
hasSuccessarrow-up-right
hasFailurearrow-up-right
Validating Success

The Result::filterarrow-up-right method allows you to transform a success into a failure based on certain conditions. It takes two parameters:

  1. A Predicatearrow-up-right to determine if the success value is acceptable.

  2. A mapping Functionarrow-up-right that will produce a failure value if the value is deemed unacceptable.

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This can be used to enforce additional validation constraints on success values.

In this example, we use a lambda expression to validate that the success value inside result is even. Since the number is odd, it transforms the result into a failure.

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Note that it is illegal for the mapping function to return null.

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Recovering From Failure

The Result::recoverarrow-up-right method allows you to transform a failure into a success based on certain conditions. It also receives two parameters:

  1. A Predicatearrow-up-right to determine if the failure value is recoverable.

  2. A mapping Functionarrow-up-right that will produce a success value from the acceptable failure value.

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This method is useful for implementing fallback mechanisms or recovery strategies, ensuring the application logic remains resilient and adaptable.

In this example, we use method references to check if the failure value equals OK and then transform the result into a success.

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Conclusion

We covered how to filter out unwanted success values and accept failure values using filterarrow-up-right and recoverarrow-up-right. These methods enable you to refine results based on specific criteria, ensuring that only the relevant values are processed down the line.

ensures that the provided action (adding the success value to the list) is only executed if the parsing operation is successful.

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Handling Failure

On the other hand, we can use Result::ifFailurearrow-up-right method to define an action that must be taken when the result represents a failure. This method also takes a Consumerarrow-up-right that will be applied to the failure value inside the result.

Here, ifFailure ensures that the provided action (adding the failure value to the list) is only executed if the parsing operation fails.

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Handling Both Scenarios

Finally, Result::ifSuccessOrElsearrow-up-right allows you to specify two separate actions: one for when the operation succeeded and another for when it failed. This method takes two consumer functionsarrow-up-right: the first for handling the success case and the second for handling the failure case.

In this example, ifSuccessOrElse simplifies conditional logic by providing a single method to handle both success and failure scenarios, making the code more concise and readable.

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Conclusion

We explained how to handle success and failure scenarios using these three methods. They provide a powerful way to perform conditional actions based on the state of a Result, streamlining your error handling and making your code more readable and maintainable.

Result::ifSuccessarrow-up-right
consumer functionarrow-up-right
@Test
void testHasFailure() {
  // Given
  Result<?, ?> result1 = success(512);
  Result<?, ?> result2 = failure(512);
  // When
  boolean result1HasFailure = result1.hasFailure();
  boolean result2HasFailure = result2.hasFailure();
  // Then
  assertFalse(result1HasFailure);
  assertTrue(result2HasFailure);
}
@Test
void testFilter() {
  // Given
  Result<Integer, String> result = success(1);
  // When
  Result<Integer, String> filtered = result.filter(x -> x % 2 == 0, x -> "It's odd");
  // Then
  assertTrue(filtered.hasFailure());
}
@Test
void testRecover() {
  // Given
  Result<Integer, String> result = failure("OK");
  // When
  Result<Integer, String> filtered = result.recover("OK"::equals, String::length);
  // Then
  assertTrue(filtered.hasSuccess());
}
@Test
void testIfSuccess() {
  // Given
  List<Object> list = new ArrayList<>();
  Result<Integer, String> result = success(100);
  // When
  result.ifSuccess(list::add);
  // Then
  assertEquals(100, list.getFirst());
}
@Test
void testIfFailure() {
  // Given
  List<Object> list = new ArrayList<>();
  Result<Integer, String> result = failure("ERROR");
  // When
  result.ifFailure(list::add);
  // Then
  assertEquals("ERROR", list.getFirst());
}
@Test
void testIfSuccessOrElse() {
  // Given
  List<Object> list1 = new ArrayList<>();
  List<Object> list2 = new ArrayList<>();
  Result<Long, String> result1 = success(100L);
  Result<Long, String> result2 = failure("ERROR");
  // When
  result1.ifSuccessOrElse(list1::add, list1::add);
  result2.ifSuccessOrElse(list2::add, list2::add);
  // Then
  assertEquals(100L, list1.getFirst());
  assertEquals("ERROR", list2.getFirst());
}
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How to Use this Add-On

Add this Maven dependency to your build:

Group ID
Artifact ID
Latest Version

com.leakyabstractions

result-assertj

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Maven Centralarrow-up-right provides snippets for different build tools to declare this dependency.

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Asserting Result Objects

You can use ResultAssertions::assertThatarrow-up-right in your tests to create fluent assertions for result objects.

If, for any reason, you cannot statically import assertThat, you can use ResultAssert::assertThatResultarrow-up-right instead.

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Conclusion

We covered how to use fluent assertions for Results. This approach allows you to write clear and expressive tests, enhancing the maintainability of your unit tests while ensuring that Result objects behave as expected.

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The full source code for the examples is available on GitHubarrow-up-right.

AssertJarrow-up-right
AssertJarrow-up-right
JUnitarrow-up-right
TestNGarrow-up-right
import static com.leakyabstractions.result.assertj.ResultAssertions.assertThat;

@Test
void testAssertThat() {
  // Given
  final int zero = 0;
  // When
  final Result<Integer, String> result = success(zero);
  // Then
  assertThat(zero).isZero();
  assertThat(result).hasSuccess(zero);
}
import static com.leakyabstractions.result.assertj.ResultAssert.assertThatResult;
import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;

@Test
void testAssertThatResult() {
  // Given
  final int zero = 0;
  // When
  final Result<Integer, String> result = success(zero);
  // Then
  assertThat(zero).isZero();
  assertThatResult(result).hasSuccess(zero);
}
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How to Use this Add-On

Add this Maven dependency to your build:

Group ID
Artifact ID
Latest Version

com.leakyabstractions

result-bom

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Maven

To import the BOM using Mavenarrow-up-right, use the following:

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Gradle

To import the BOM using Gradlearrow-up-right, use the following:

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Conclusion

We discussed the benefits of using the Bill of Materials for managing dependencies in your project. With the BOM, you can eliminate the hassle of manually specifying version numbers, ensuring consistency and compatibility across all Result libraries.

Result Library Bill of Materialsarrow-up-right
Mavenarrow-up-right
<!-- Import the BOM -->
<dependencyManagement>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.leakyabstractions</groupId>
      <artifactId>result-bom</artifactId>
      <version>1.0.0.0</version>
      <scope>import</scope>
      <type>pom</type>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>

<!-- Define dependencies without version numbers -->
<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>com.leakyabstractions</groupId>
    <artifactId>result</artifactId>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>com.leakyabstractions</groupId>
    <artifactId>result-assertj</artifactId>
    <scope>test</scope>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>
dependencies {
  // Import the BOM
  implementation platform("com.leakyabstractions:result-bom:1.0.0.0")

  // Define dependencies without version numbers
  implementation("com.leakyabstractions:result")
  testImplementation("com.leakyabstractions:result-assertj")
}

Spring Boot Demo Project

Take a look at a Spring Boot-based REST API leveraging Result objects

This demo project demonstrates how to handle and serialize Result objects within a Spring Bootarrow-up-right application. It provides a working example of a "pet store" web service that exposes a REST API for managing pets.

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Generating the Project

The project was generated via Spring Initializrarrow-up-right including features: web and cloud-feign.

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Adding Serialization Support

Then was manually added as a dependency to serialize and deserialize Result objects.

We use a @Bean to register the datatype module.

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API Responses

API responses contain a Result field, encapsulating the outcome of the requested operation.

Results have different success types, depending on the specific endpoint. Failures will be encapsulated as instances of ApiError.

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Controllers

Controllers return instances of ApiResponse that will be serialized to JSON by Spring Boot.

Since failures are expressed as ApiError objects, endpoints invariably return HTTP status 200.

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Running the Application

The application can be built and run with Gradle.

This will start a stand-alone server on port 8080.

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Testing the Server

Once started, you can interact with the API.

You should see a JSON response like this:

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Using Swagger-UI

You can navigate to to inspect the API using an interactive UI

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The full source code for the example application is .

Micronaut Demo Project

Take a look at a Micronaut-based REST API leveraging Result objects

This demo project demonstrates how to handle and serialize Result objects within a Micronautarrow-up-right application. It provides a working example of a "pet store" web service that exposes a REST API for managing pets.

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Generating the Project

The project was generated via Micronaut Launcharrow-up-right including features: annotation-api, http-client, openapi, serialization-jackson, swagger-ui, toml, and validation.

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Adding Serialization Support

Then was manually added as a dependency to serialize and deserialize Result objects.

That's all we need to do to make Micronaut treat results as .

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API Responses

API responses contain a Result field, encapsulating the outcome of the requested operation.

Results have different success types, depending on the specific endpoint. Failures will be encapsulated as instances of ApiError.

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Controllers

Controllers return instances of ApiResponse that will be serialized to JSON by Micronaut:

Since failures are expressed as ApiError objects, endpoints invariably return HTTP status 200.

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Running the Application

The application can be built and run with Gradle.

This will start a stand-alone server on port 8080.

hashtag
Testing the Server

Once started, you can interact with the API.

You should see a JSON response like this:

hashtag
Using Swagger-UI

You can navigate to to inspect the API using an interactive UI.

circle-check

The full source code for the example application is .

Unwrapping Values

How to get values out of Result objects

In essence, a Result object is just a container that wraps a success or a failure value for us. Therefore, sometimes you are going to want to get that value out of the container.

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As useful as this may seem, we will soon realize that we won't be doing it very often.

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Unwrapping Success

The most basic way to retrieve the success value wrapped inside a result is by using Result::getSuccessarrow-up-right. This method will return an optional success value, depending on whether the result was actually successful or not.

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Unwrapping Failure

Similarly, we can use Result::getFailurearrow-up-right to obtain the failure value held by a Result object.

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Unlike Optional::getarrow-up-right, these methods are null-safe. However, in practice, we will not be using them frequently. Especially, since there are more convenient ways to get the success value out of a result.

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Using Alternative Success

We can use Result::orElsearrow-up-right to provide an alternative success value that must be returned when the result is unsuccessful.

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Note that alternative success values can be null.

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Mapping Failure

The Result::orElseMaparrow-up-right method is similar to Optional::orElseGetarrow-up-right, but it takes a mapping Functionarrow-up-right instead of a Supplierarrow-up-right. The function will receive the failure value to produce the alternative success value.

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Although probably not the best practice, the mapping function may return null.

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Streaming Success or Failure

Finally, we can use Result::streamSuccessarrow-up-right and Result::streamFailurearrow-up-right to wrap the value held by an instance of Result into a possibly-empty Streamarrow-up-right object.

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Conclusion

We explored various ways to retrieve values from results. Using these methods you can efficiently access the underlying data within a Result object, whether it's a success or a failure.

@Test
void testGetSuccess() {
  // Given
  Result<?, ?> result1 = success("SUCCESS");
  Result<?, ?> result2 = failure("FAILURE");
  // Then
  Optional<?> success1 = result1.getSuccess();
  Optional<?> success2 = result2.getSuccess();
  // Then
  assertEquals("SUCCESS", success1.get());
  assertTrue(success2::isEmpty);
}
@Test
void testGetFailure() {
  // Given
  Result<?, ?> result1 = success("SUCCESS");
  Result<?, ?> result2 = failure("FAILURE");
  // Then
  Optional<?> failure1 = result1.getFailure();
  Optional<?> failure2 = result2.getFailure();
  // Then
  assertTrue(failure1::isEmpty);
  assertEquals("FAILURE", failure2.get());
}
@Test
void testGetOrElse() {
  // Given
  Result<String, String> result1 = success("IDEAL");
  Result<String, String> result2 = failure("ERROR");
  String alternative = "OTHER";
  // When
  String value1 = result1.orElse(alternative);
  String value2 = result2.orElse(alternative);
  // Then
  assertEquals("IDEAL", value1);
  assertEquals("OTHER", value2);
}
@Test
void testGetOrElseMap() {
  // Given
  Result<String, Integer> result1 = success("OK");
  Result<String, Integer> result2 = failure(1024);
  Result<String, Integer> result3 = failure(-256);
  Function<Integer, String> mapper = x -> x > 0 ? "HI" : "LO";
  // When
  String value1 = result1.orElseMap(mapper);
  String value2 = result2.orElseMap(mapper);
  String value3 = result3.orElseMap(mapper);
  // Then
  assertEquals("OK", value1);
  assertEquals("HI", value2);
  assertEquals("LO", value3);
}
@Test
void testStreamSuccess() {
  // Given
  Result<?, ?> result1 = success("Yes");
  Result<?, ?> result2 = failure("No");
  // When
  Stream<?> stream1 = result1.streamSuccess();
  Stream<?> stream2 = result2.streamSuccess();
  // Then
  assertEquals("Yes", stream1.findFirst().orElse(null));
  assertNull(stream2.findFirst().orElse(null));
}

@Test
void testStreamFailure() {
  // Given
  Result<?, ?> result1 = success("Yes");
  Result<?, ?> result2 = failure("No");
  // When
  Stream<?> stream1 = result1.streamFailure();
  Stream<?> stream2 = result2.streamFailure();
  // Then
  assertNull(stream1.findFirst().orElse(null));
  assertEquals("No", stream2.findFirst().orElse(null));
}
build.gradle
dependencies {
  // ...
  implementation platform('com.leakyabstractions:result-bom:1.0.0.0')
  implementation 'com.leakyabstractions:result'
  implementation 'com.leakyabstractions:result-jackson'
}
JacksonConfig.java
@Configuration
public class JacksonConfig {
  @Bean
  public Module registerResultModule() {
    return new ResultModule();
  }
}
ApiResponse.java
public class ApiResponse<S> {

  @JsonProperty String version;
  @JsonProperty Instant generatedOn;
  @JsonProperty Result<S, ApiError> result;
}
PetController.java
@RestController
public class PetController {
  // ...
  @GetMapping("/pet")
  ApiResponse<Collection<Pet>> list(@RequestHeader("X-Type") RepositoryType type) {
    log.info("List all pets in {} pet store", type);
    return response(locate(type)
      .flatMapSuccess(PetRepository::listPets)
      .ifSuccess(x -> log.info("Listed {} pet(s) in {}", x.size(), type))
      .ifFailure(this::logError));
  }
}
./gradlew bootRun
curl -s -H 'x-type: local' http://localhost:8080/pet/0
{
  "version": "1.0",
  "result": {
    "success":{
      "id": 0,
      "name": "Rocky",
      "status": "AVAILABLE"
    }
  }
}
Jackson datatype module for Result objects
http://localhost:8080/arrow-up-right
available on GitHubarrow-up-right
Swagger-UI
build.gradle
dependencies {
    // ...
    implementation(platform("com.leakyabstractions:result-bom:1.0.0.0"))
    implementation("com.leakyabstractions:result")
    implementation("com.leakyabstractions:result-micronaut-serde")
}
ApiResponse.java
@Serdeable
public class ApiResponse<S> {

  @JsonProperty String version;
  @JsonProperty Instant generatedOn;
  @JsonProperty Result<S, ApiError> result;
}
PetController.java
@Controller
public class PetController {
  // ...
  @Get("/pet")
  ApiResponse<Collection<Pet>> list(@Header("X-Type") RepositoryType type) {
    log.info("List all pets in {} pet store", type);
    return response(locate(type)
        .flatMapSuccess(PetRepository::listPets)
        .ifSuccess(x -> log.info("Listed {} pet(s) in {}", x.size(), type))
        .ifFailure(this::logError));
  }
}
./gradlew run
curl -s -H 'x-type: local' http://localhost:8080/pet/0
{
  "version": "1.0",
  "result": {
    "success":{
      "id": 0,
      "name": "Rocky",
      "status": "AVAILABLE"
    }
  }
}
Micronaut Serialization for Result objects
Serdeablearrow-up-right
http://localhost:8080/arrow-up-right
available on GitHubarrow-up-right
Swagger-UI

Jackson Modules

How to serialize Result objects with Jackson 2.x and 3.x

When using Result objects with Jacksonarrow-up-right we might run into some problems. The Jackson datatype modules for Result solve them by making Jackson treat results as if they were ordinary objects.

circle-info

Jacksonarrow-up-right is a Java library for JSONarrow-up-right parsing and generation. It is widely used for converting Java objects to JSON and vice versa, making it essential for handling data in web services and RESTful APIs.

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How to Use These Add-Ons

Choose the Maven dependency that matches your Jackson version.

hashtag
Jackson 2.x

Add this Maven dependency to your build:

Group ID
Artifact ID
Latest Version

hashtag
Jackson 3.x

Add this one instead:

Group ID
Artifact ID
Latest Version
circle-check

Maven Central provides snippets for different build tools to declare these dependencies.

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Test Scenario

Let's start by creating a class ApiResponse containing one ordinary and one Result field.

hashtag
Problem Overview

Then we will take a look at what happens when we try to serialize and deserialize ApiResponse objects.

hashtag
Serialization Problem (Jackson 2.x Only)

Now, let's instantiate an ApiResponse object.

And finally, let's try serializing it using an .

With Jackson 2.x, this will produce an error: .

The reason is Jackson encounters Optional values internally and it will not handle it unless you register .

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Deserialization Problem (Both Jackson 2.x and 3.x)

Now, let's reverse our previous example, this time trying to deserialize a JSON object into an ApiResponse.

This will produce an error: . Let's inspect the stack trace.

This behavior again makes sense. Essentially, Jackson cannot create new result objects because Result is an interface, not a concrete type.

hashtag
Solution Implementation

The Jackson datatype modules for Result provide serializers and deserializers so that Jackson treats results as if they were regular objects.

hashtag
Registering the Jackson Datatype Module for Result

First of all, we need to .

hashtag
Jackson 2.x

Then, all we need to do is register ResultModule with our .

Alternatively, you can also make Jackson 2.x auto-discover the module.

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Jackson 3.x

Just like the previous example, we need to add ResultModule to our .

Or simply use auto-discovery:

circle-info

Regardless of the chosen registration mechanism, once the appropriate dataype module is registered all functionality is available for all normal Jackson operations.

hashtag
Serializing Results

Now, let's try and serialize our ApiResponse object again:

If we look at the serialized response, we'll see that this time the result field contains a null failure value and a non-null success value:

Next, we can try serializing a failed result.

We can verify that the serialized response contains a non-null failure value and a null success value.

hashtag
Deserializing Results

Now, let's repeat our tests for deserialization. If we read our ApiResponse again, we'll see that we no longer get an .

Finally, let's repeat the test again, this time with a failed result. We'll see that yet again we don't get an exception, and in fact, have a failed result.

hashtag
Conclusion

We learned how to serialize and deserialize Result objects using both Jackson 2.x and Jackson 2.x, demonstrating how the provided datatype module enables Jackson to treat Results as ordinary objects.

The integration is nearly identical across versions; the main differences are limited to dependency coordinates and how the object mapper is constructed and configured.

circle-check

The full source code for the examples is available on GitHub.

com.leakyabstractions

result-jackson

com.leakyabstractions

result-jackson3

/** Represents an API response */
public class ApiResponse {

  @JsonProperty
  String version;

  @JsonProperty
  Result<String, String> result;

  // Constructors, getters and setters omitted
}
ApiResponse response = new ApiResponse();
response.setVersion("v1");
response.setResult(success("Perfect"));
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(response);
Java 8 optional type `java.util.Optional<java.lang.String>`
 not supported by default:
 add Module "com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype:jackson-datatype-jdk8"
 to enable handling
String json = "{\"version\":\"v2\",\"result\":{\"success\":\"OK\"}}";
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
objectMapper.readValue(json, ApiResponse.class);
Cannot construct instance of `com.leakyabstractions.result.api.Result`
 (no Creators, like default constructor, exist):
 abstract types either need to be mapped to concrete types,
 have custom deserializer, or contain additional type information
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
objectMapper.registerModule(new ResultModule());
objectMapper.findAndRegisterModules();
JsonMapper.Builder builder = JsonMapper.builder();
builder.addModule(new ResultModule());
ObjectMapper objectMapper = builder.build();
builder.findAndAddModules();
@Test
void serializeSuccessfulResult() throws Exception {
  // Given
  ApiResponse response = new ApiResponse("v3", success("All good"));
  // When
  ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
  objectMapper.registerModule(new ResultModule());
  String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(response);
  // Then
  assertTrue(json.contains("v3"));
  assertTrue(json.contains("All good"));
}
{
  "version": "v3",
  "result": {
    "failure": null,
    "success": "All good"
  }
}
@Test
void serializeFailedResult() throws Exception {
  // Given
  ApiResponse response = new ApiResponse("v4", failure("Oops"));
  // When
  ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
  objectMapper.findAndRegisterModules();
  String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(response);
  // Then
  assertTrue(json.contains("v4"));
  assertTrue(json.contains("Oops"));
} // End
{
  "version": "v4",
  "result": {
    "failure": "Oops",
    "success": null
  }
}
@Test
void deserializeSuccessfulResult() {
  // Given
  String json = "{\"version\":\"v5\",\"result\":{\"success\":\"Yay\"}}";
  // When
  ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper().findAndRegisterModules();
  ApiResponse response = objectMapper.readValue(json, ApiResponse.class);
  // Then
  assertEquals("v5", response.getVersion());
  assertEquals("Yay", response.getResult().orElse(null));
}
@Test
void deserializeFailedResult() {
  // Given
  String json = "{\"version\":\"v6\",\"result\":{\"failure\":\"Nay\"}}";
  // When
  ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper().findAndRegisterModules();
  ApiResponse response = objectMapper.readValue(json, ApiResponse.class);
  // Then
  assertEquals("v6", response.getVersion());
  assertEquals("Nay", response.getResult().getFailure().orElse(null));
}
Jackson 2.x datatype module for Resultarrow-up-right
Jackson 3.x datatype module for Resultarrow-up-right
object mapperarrow-up-right
InvalidDefinitionExceptionarrow-up-right
the appropriate modulesarrow-up-right
InvalidDefinitionExceptionarrow-up-right
add the the appropriate datatype module as a dependency
object mapperarrow-up-right
JSON mapperarrow-up-right
InvalidDefinitionExceptionarrow-up-right
Jackson 2.x examplesarrow-up-right
Jackson 3.x examplesarrow-up-right

Ecosystem

Boosting results with enhanced capabilities

Add-ons are optional, yet powerful extensions to the Result library, designed to provide extra features that can be integrated on demand.

These small, focused libraries provide a modular approach to extending the core functionalities of Results without adding unnecessary complexity.

CoverCover

Write expressive assertions using

CoverCover

Serialize and deserialize results using

CoverCover

Serialize and deserialize results using

AssertJarrow-up-right
Jacksonarrow-up-right
Micronaut Serializationarrow-up-right

Adding Result to Your Build

How to add Result as a dependency to your build

This library adheres to Pragmatic Versioningarrow-up-right to communicate the backwards compatibility of each version.

The latest releases are available in arrow-up-right

Result supports both Mavenarrow-up-right and Gradlearrow-up-right for seamless integration into your Java build workflow.

hashtag
Artifact Coordinates

Add this Maven dependency to your build:

Group ID
Artifact ID
Latest Version
circle-check

provides snippets for different build tools to declare this dependency.

hashtag
Maven

Add Result as a Maven dependency to your project.

hashtag
Gradle

Add Result as a Gradle dependency to your project.

circle-info

This is the most common configuration for projects using Result internally. If we were building a library that exposed Result in its public API, .

hashtag
Conclusion

We learned how to add the library to your project using either Maven or Gradle. By including the correct dependencies, you're now ready to start leveraging the power of Results in your applications.

com.leakyabstractions

result

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.leakyabstractions</groupId>
        <artifactId>result</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>
dependencies {
    implementation("com.leakyabstractions:result:1.0.0.0")
}

Apache Mavenarrow-up-right is a convention-based Java build tool that uses XML configuration to manage dependencies, compile code, and package applications in a standardized lifecycle.

Gradlearrow-up-right is a flexible and high-performance build tool that uses a Groovy or Kotlin DSL to define builds, offering advanced customization and fast incremental builds.

Maven Centralarrow-up-right
we should use api instead of implementationarrow-up-right
Maven Central repository
Cover
Cover
Cover
Cover

Basic Usage

How to solve simple use-case scenarios

In this section, we'll cover foundational use cases, including checking the status of a result, unwrapping the value inside a result, and taking different actions based on success or failure.

No need for if blocks or early return statements when you can handle success and failure without any hassle.

These basics will help you handle errors more cleanly and efficiently without cluttering your code with try-catch blocks.

Introduction

A Java library to handle success and failure without exceptions

hashtag
Handle success and failure in Java without exceptions

Wave goodbye to slow exceptions and embrace clean, efficient error handling by encapsulating operations that may succeed or fail in a type-safe way.

rocket-launchStart here githubFork me on GitHub

circle-check

Result is a Java library for modeling operation outcomes explicitly. It gives you a simpler, faster alternative to exception-driven flow when you want to represent both success and failure in a single, composable type.

hashtag
Why Result?

Optional is great for values that may be present or absent, but it does not explain why something is missing. Result fills that gap by carrying either a successful value or a failure reason, so your code can describe what happened instead of hiding it.

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Quick Start

1

Create a result from an operation

2

Inspect whether it succeeded or failed

3

Transform it if needed, then unwrap it as required

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Latest Releases

Available in

hashtag
Add-Ons

Integrate Result with popular libraries.

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Demo Projects

Try it for yourself in 5 minutes.

hashtag
Features

hashtag
Ready to Tap into the Power of Results?

Read the guide and transform your error handling today.

Also available as an ebook in multiple formats.

hashtag
TL;DR

Not a fan of reading long docs? No worries! Tune in to Deep Dive, a podcast generated by . In just a few minutes, you'll get the essential details and a fun intro to what this library can do for you!

Benchmarks

Measuring performance to find out how fast Results are

Throughout these guides, we have mentioned that throwing Java exceptions is slow. But... how slow? According to our benchmarks, throwing an exception is several orders of magnitude slower than returning a failed result.

Returning a failed Result object is significantly faster than throwing an exception.

This proves that using exceptional logic just to control normal program flow is a bad idea.

circle-info

We should throw exceptions sparingly, even more so when developing performance-critical applications.

hashtag
Benchmarking Result Library

This library comes with when using results versus when using exceptions.

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Simple Scenarios

The first scenarios compare the most basic usage: a method that returns a String or fails, depending on a given int parameter:

hashtag
Using Exceptions

hashtag
Using Results

hashtag
Complex Scenarios

The next scenarios do something a little bit more elaborate: a method invokes the previous method to retrieve a String; if successful, then converts it to upper case; otherwise transforms the "simple" error into a "complex" error.

hashtag
Using Exceptions

hashtag
Using Results

hashtag
Conclusion

We provided insights into the Result library's performance through benchmarking. While our metrics corroborate that most codebases could benefit from using this library instead of throwing exceptions, its main goal is to help promote best practices and implement proper error handling.

circle-info

To address performance concerns, benchmark your applications to gain reusable insights. These should guide your decisions on selecting frameworks and libraries.

Micronaut Serialization

How to serialize Result objects with Micronaut

When using Result objects with , we might run into some problems. The support for Result solves them by making Micronaut treat results as (so they can be serialized and deserialized).

circle-info

is a modern, JVM-based framework for building lightweight microservices and serverless applications. It focuses on fast startup times and low memory usage. Although not as widely adopted as , it has gained popularity for its performance and innovative features.

hashtag
How to Use this Add-On

Add this Maven dependency to your build:

Group ID
Artifact ID
Latest Version

com.leakyabstractions

result-micronaut-serde

circle-check

Maven Centralarrow-up-right provides snippets for different build tools to declare this dependency.

hashtag
Test Scenario

Let's start by creating a record ApiOperation containing one ordinary and one Result field.

hashtag
Problem Overview

We will take a look at what happens when we try to serialize and deserialize ApiOperation objects with Micronaut.

hashtag
Serialization Problem

Now, let's create a Micronaut controller that returns an instance of ApiOperation containing a successful result.

And finally, let's run the application and try the /operations/last endpoint we just created.

We'll see that we get a Micronaut CodecException caused by a SerdeExceptionarrow-up-right.

Although this may look strange, it's actually what we should expect. Even though we annotated ApiOperation as @Serdeablearrow-up-right, Micronaut doesn't know how to serialize result objects yet, so the data structure cannot be serialized.

This is Micronaut's default serialization behavior. But we'd like to serialize the result field like this:

hashtag
Deserialization Problem

Now, let's reverse our previous example, this time trying to receive an ApiOperation as the body of a POST request.

We'll see that now we get an IntrospectionExceptionarrow-up-right. Let's inspect the stack trace.

This behavior again makes sense. Essentially, Micronaut cannot create new result objects, because Result is not annotated as @Introspectedarrow-up-right or @Serdeablearrow-up-right.

hashtag
Solution Implementation

What we want, is for Micronaut to treat Result values as JSON objects that contain either a success or a failure value. Fortunately, there's an easy way to solve this problem.

hashtag
Adding the Serde Imports to the Classpath

All we need to do now is add Result-Micronaut-Serde as a Maven dependency. Once the @SerdeImportarrow-up-right is in the classpath, all functionality is available for all normal Micronaut operations.

hashtag
Serializing Results

Now, let's try and serialize our ApiOperation object again.

If we look at the serialized response, we'll see that this time the result field contains a success field.

Next, we can try serializing a failed result.

We can verify that the serialized response contains a non-null failure value and a null success value:

hashtag
Deserializing Results

Now, let's repeat our tests for deserialization. If we read our ApiOperation again, we'll see that we no longer get an IntrospectionExceptionarrow-up-right.

Finally, let's repeat the test again, this time with a failed result. We'll see that yet again we don't get an exception, and in fact, have a failed result.

hashtag
Conclusion

We learned how to serialize and deserialize Result objects using Micronautarrow-up-right, demonstrating how the provided @SerdeImportarrow-up-right enables Micronaut to treat Results as Serdeablearrow-up-right objects.

circle-check

The full source code for the examples is available on GitHubarrow-up-right.

Micronautarrow-up-right
Micronaut serializationarrow-up-right
Serdeablearrow-up-right
Micronautarrow-up-right
Spring Bootarrow-up-right
/** Represents an API operation */
@Serdeable
public record ApiOperation(String name, Result<String, String> result) {
}
@Controller("/operations")
public class ApiController {

    @Get("/last")
    ApiOperation lastOperation() {
        return new ApiOperation("setup", Results.success("Perfect"));
    }
}
curl 'http://localhost:8080/operations/last'
No serializable introspection present for type Success.
 Consider adding Serdeable. Serializable annotate to type Success.
 Alternatively if you are not in control of the project's source code,
 you can use @SerdeImport(Success.class) to enable serialization of this type.
@Test
void testSerializationProblem(ObjectMapper objectMapper) {
  // Given
  ApiOperation op = new ApiOperation("setup", success("Perfect"));
  // Then
  SerdeException error = assertThrows(SerdeException.class,
      () -> objectMapper.writeValueAsString(op));
  assertTrue(error.getMessage().startsWith(
      "No serializable introspection present for type Success."));
}
{
  "name": "setup",
  "result": {
    "failure": null,
    "success": "Perfect"
  }
}
@Controller("/operations")
public class ApiController {

    @Post("/notify")
    Map<String, String> notify(@Body ApiOperation op) {
        return op.result()
                .mapSuccess(s -> Map.of("message", op.name() + " succeeded: " + s))
                .orElseMap(f -> Map.of("error", op.name() + " failed: " + f));
    }
}
No bean introspection available for type
 [interface com.leakyabstractions.result.api.Result].
 Ensure the class is annotated with
 io.micronaut.core.annotation.Introspected
@Test
void testDeserializationProblem(ObjectMapper objectMapper) {
  // Given
  String json = """
      {"name":"renew","result":{"success":"OK"}}""";
  // Then
  IntrospectionException error = assertThrows(IntrospectionException.class,
      () -> objectMapper.readValue(json, ApiOperation.class));
  String errorMessage = error.getMessage(); // Extract error message
  // Verify error message
  assertTrue(errorMessage.startsWith("No bean introspection available " +
      "for type [interface com.leakyabstractions.result.api.Result]."));
} // End
@Test
void serializeSuccessfulResult(ObjectMapper objectMapper)
    throws IOException {
  // Given
  ApiOperation op = new ApiOperation("clean", success("All good"));
  // When
  String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(op);
  // Then
  assertEquals("""
      {"name":"clean","result":{"success":"All good"}}""", json);
}
{
  "name": "clean",
  "result": {
    "failure": null,
    "success": "All good"
  }
}
@Test
void serializeFailedResult(ObjectMapper objectMapper)
    throws IOException {
  // Given
  ApiOperation op = new ApiOperation("build", failure("Oops"));
  // When
  String json = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(op);
  // Then
  assertEquals("""
      {"name":"build","result":{"failure":"Oops"}}""", json);
}
{
  "name": "build",
  "result": {
    "failure": "Oops",
    "success": null
  }
}
@Test
void deserializeSuccessfulResult(ObjectMapper objectMapper)
    throws IOException {
  // Given
  String json = """
      {"name":"check","result":{"success":"Yay"}}""";
  // When
  ApiOperation response = objectMapper.readValue(json, ApiOperation.class);
  // Then
  assertEquals("check", response.name());
  assertEquals("Yay", response.result().orElse(null));
}
@Test
void deserializeFailedResult(ObjectMapper objectMapper)
    throws IOException {
  // Given
  String json = """
      {"name":"start","result":{"failure":"Nay"}}""";
  // When
  ApiOperation response = objectMapper.readValue(json, ApiOperation.class);
  // Then
  assertEquals("start", response.name());
  assertEquals("Nay", response.result().getFailure().orElse(null));
}
Result<User, Exception> result = Results.ofCallable(() -> db.getUser(id));
result.ifFailure(error -> logger.error("Couldn't get user: {}", id, error));
String name = result.mapSuccess(User::name).orElse("Anonymous");
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.leakyabstractions</groupId>
        <artifactId>result</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>
dependencies {
    implementation("com.leakyabstractions:result:1.0.0.0")
}
arrow-up-right
🌱Getting Startedchevron-right
🪴Basic Usagechevron-right
🚀Advanced Usagechevron-right
Download your free copy now!arrow-up-right
NetbookLMarrow-up-right
Mental Model

Works with

Works with

Assert results fluently with

Serialize results to JSON with

Works with

Works with

Boost Performance

Avoid exception overhead and benefit from faster operations

Simple API

Leverage a familiar interface for a smooth learning curve

Streamlined Error Handling

Handle failure explicitly to simplify error propagation

Safe Execution

Ensure safer and more predictable operation outcomes

Enhanced Readability

Reduce complexity to make your code easier to understand

Functional Style

Embrace elegant, functional programming paradigms

Lightweight

Keep your project slim with no extra dependencies

Open Source

Enjoy transparent, permissive Apache 2 licensing

Pure Java

Seamless compatibility from JDK8 to the latest versions

public String usingExceptions(int number) throws SimpleException {
  if (number < 0) {
    throw new SimpleException(number);
  }
  return "ok";
}
public Result<String, SimpleFailure> usingResults(int number) {
  if (number < 0) {
    return Results.failure(new SimpleFailure(number));
  }
  return Results.success("ok");
}
public String usingExceptions(int number) throws ComplexException {
  try {
    return simple.usingExceptions(number).toUpperCase();
  } catch (SimpleException e) {
    throw new ComplexException(e);
  }
}
public Result<String, ComplexFailure> usingResults(int number) {
  return simple.usingResults(number)
    .map(String::toUpperCase, ComplexFailure::new);
}
a set of benchmarks that compare performancearrow-up-right
Maven Central repository
Maven
Maven
Gradle
Gradle
AssertJ
AssertJ
Jackson
Jackson
Spring Boot
Micronaut
Micronaut
Because exceptions are so last century.
Because exceptions are so last century.
For a smooth ride from Optional to Result.
For a smooth ride from Optional to Result.
Say goodbye to error-handling acrobatics.
Say goodbye to error-handling acrobatics.
Skip the exception rollercoaster and enjoy the smooth ride.
Skip the exception rollercoaster and enjoy the smooth ride.
So you can actually understand your own code next month.
So you can actually understand your own code next month.
For those who prefer elegance over chaos.
For those who prefer elegance over chaos.
Because bloated libraries are so overrated.
Because bloated libraries are so overrated.
Feel free to tweak and share — no strings attached.
Feel free to tweak and share — no strings attached.
Whether you're stuck in the past or embracing the future, we've got you covered.
Whether you're stuck in the past or embracing the future, we've got you covered.

Recap

Level up and lessons learned

Congratulations on reaching the end of this guide! By now, you should have a solid understanding of how to use results in your Java applications effectively. Here's a brief recap of what you've learned:

  • Getting Started: You learned how to integrate result objects into your codebase and instantiate new ones.

  • Basic Usage: You explored foundational operations like checking statuses, unwrapping values, and executing conditional actions based on result status, enabling you to respond dynamically to success and failure scenarios.

  • Advanced Usage: You delved into more sophisticated techniques like screening results to transform successes and failures based on conditions, and leveraging mapping and flat-mapping methods to compose behaviors in a functional style.

For more details on the Result API, you can read the .

circle-check

The full source code for the examples is .

Next, we'll introduce additional resources where you can further enhance your understanding and skills. Let's continue expanding your knowledge!

Javadoc reference documentationarrow-up-right
available on GitHubarrow-up-right

License

Feel free to tweak and share — no strings attached

This library is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use it except in compliance with the License.

You may obtain a copy of the License at https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0arrow-up-right

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

circle-check

Permitted

  • Commercial Use: You may use this library and derivatives for commercial purposes.

  • Modification: You may modify this library.

  • Distribution: You may distribute this library.

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Required

  • License and Copyright Notice: If you distribute this library you must include a copy of the license and copyright notice.

  • State Changes: If you modify and distribute this library you must document changes made to this library.

circle-exclamation

Forbidden

  • Trademark use: This license does not grant any trademark rights.

  • Liability: The library author cannot be held liable for damages.

Patent Use: This license provides an express grant of patent rights from contributors.

  • Private Use: You may use and modify this library without distributing it.

  • Warranty: This library is provided without any warranty.

  • Lazy Results

    How to defer expensive calculations with Results

    Lazy results optimize performance by deferring costly operations until absolutely necessary. They behave like regular results, but only execute the underlying operation when an actual check for success or failure is performed.

    hashtag
    How to Use this Add-On

    Add this Maven dependency to your build:

    Group ID
    Artifact ID
    Latest Version
    circle-check

    provides snippets for different build tools to declare this dependency.

    hashtag
    Creating Lazy Results

    We can use to create a lazy result.

    While can return a fixed success or failure, lazy results shine when they encapsulate time-consuming or resource-intensive operations.

    This sample method simply increments and returns a counter for brevity. However, in a typical scenario, this would involve an I/O operation.

    hashtag
    Skipping Expensive Calculations

    The advantage of lazy results is that they defer invoking the provided for as long as possible. Despite this, you can screen and transform them like any other result without losing their laziness.

    In this example, the expensive calculation is omitted because the lazy result is never fully evaluated. This test demonstrates that a lazy result can be transformed while maintaining laziness, ensuring that the expensive calculation is deferred.

    circle-info

    These methods will preserve laziness:

    hashtag
    Triggering Result Evaluation

    Finally, when it's time to check whether the operation succeeds or fails, the lazy result will execute it. This is triggered by using any of the terminal methods, such as .

    Here, the expensive calculation is executed because the lazy result is finally evaluated.

    circle-info

    Terminal methods will immediately evaluate the lazy result:

    hashtag
    Handling Success and Failure Eagerly

    By default, , , and are treated as terminal methods. This means they eagerly evaluate the result and then perform an action based on its status.

    In this test, we don't explicitly unwrap the value or check the status, but since we want to consume the success value, we need to evaluate the lazy result first.

    Furthermore, even if we wanted to handle the failure scenario, we would still need to evaluate the lazy result.

    In this other test, we use instead of . Since the lazy result is evaluated to a success, the failure consumer is never executed.

    circle-info

    These methods are treated as terminal when used with regular consumer functions:

    hashtag
    Handling Success and Failure Lazily

    When these conditional actions may also be skipped along with the expensive calculation, we can encapsulate them into a instead of a regular . All we need to do is to create the consumer using . Lazy consumers will preserve the laziness until a terminal method is eventually used on the result.

    Here, we use a lazy consumer with so the expensive calculation is skipped because the lazy result is never fully evaluated.

    hashtag
    Conclusion

    We learned how to defer expensive calculations until absolutely necessary. By leveraging lazy results, you can optimize performance by avoiding unnecessary computations and only evaluating the operation's outcome when needed.

    circle-check

    The full source code for the examples is .

  • com.leakyabstractions

    result-lazy

    Supplier<Result<Integer, String>> supplier = () -> success(123);
    Result<Integer, String> lazy = LazyResults.ofSupplier(supplier);
    /* Represents the operation we may omit */
    Result<Long, Exception> expensiveCalculation(AtomicLong timesExecuted) {
      long counter = timesExecuted.incrementAndGet();
      return success(counter);
    }
    @Test
    void shouldSkipExpensiveCalculation() {
      AtomicLong timesExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      // Given
      Result<Long, Exception> lazy = LazyResults
          .ofSupplier(() -> expensiveCalculation(timesExecuted));
      // When
      Result<String, Exception> transformed = lazy.mapSuccess(Object::toString);
      // Then
      assertNotNull(transformed);
      assertEquals(0L, timesExecuted.get());
    }
    @Test
    void shouldExecuteExpensiveCalculation() {
      AtomicLong timesExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      // Given
      Result<Long, Exception> lazy = LazyResults
          .ofSupplier(() -> expensiveCalculation(timesExecuted));
      // When
      Result<String, Exception> transformed = lazy.mapSuccess(Object::toString);
      boolean success = transformed.hasSuccess();
      // Then
      assertTrue(success);
      assertEquals(1L, timesExecuted.get());
    }
    @Test
    void shouldHandleSuccessEagerly() {
      AtomicLong timesExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      AtomicLong consumerExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      Consumer<Long> consumer = x -> consumerExecuted.incrementAndGet();
      // Given
      Result<Long, Exception> lazy = LazyResults
          .ofSupplier(() -> expensiveCalculation(timesExecuted));
      // When
      lazy.ifSuccess(consumer);
      // Then
      assertEquals(1L, timesExecuted.get());
      assertEquals(1L, consumerExecuted.get());
    }
    @Test
    void shouldHandleFailureEagerly() {
      AtomicLong timesExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      AtomicLong consumerExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      Consumer<Exception> consumer = x -> consumerExecuted.incrementAndGet();
      // Given
      Result<Long, Exception> lazy = LazyResults
          .ofSupplier(() -> expensiveCalculation(timesExecuted));
      // When
      lazy.ifFailure(consumer);
      // Then
      assertEquals(1L, timesExecuted.get());
      assertEquals(0L, consumerExecuted.get());
    }
    @Test
    void shouldHandleSuccessLazily() {
      AtomicLong timesExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      AtomicLong consumerExecuted = new AtomicLong();
      Consumer<Long> consumer = LazyConsumer
          .of(x -> consumerExecuted.incrementAndGet());
      // Given
      Result<Long, Exception> lazy = LazyResults
          .ofSupplier(() -> expensiveCalculation(timesExecuted));
      // When
      lazy.ifSuccess(consumer);
      // Then
      assertEquals(0L, timesExecuted.get());
      assertEquals(0L, consumerExecuted.get());
    }
    Maven Centralarrow-up-right
    LazyResults::ofSupplierarrow-up-right
    suppliersarrow-up-right
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    Result::filterarrow-up-right
    Result::recoverarrow-up-right
    Result::hasSuccessarrow-up-right
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    Result::hasFailurearrow-up-right
    Result::ifSuccessarrow-up-right
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    Result::ifSuccessarrow-up-right
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    Consumerarrow-up-right
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    Result::ifSuccessarrow-up-right
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    Result::mapSuccessarrow-up-right
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    Result::getSuccessarrow-up-right
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    Result::ifSuccessOrElsearrow-up-right

    Advanced Usage

    How to take Result objects to the next level

    While understanding the basics provides a solid foundation, the true potential of result objects is unlocked through their functional capabilities. Mastering these techniques enables concise and readable error handling by leveraging the power of .

    circle-check

    The most idiomatic approach to handling results involves screening them and applying various mapping and flat-mapping methods to transform and compose behavior.

    This section will guide you through these powerful tools, demonstrating how to manipulate results effectively so you can craft more robust and maintainable Java applications.

    monadic compositionarrow-up-right
    Results can be filtered and transformed just like Java streams.

    Transforming Results

    How to transform values wrapped inside Results

    Transforming result objects is a key feature that enables you to compose complex operations in a clean and functional style. There are two primary techniques used for these transformations.

    hashtag
    Mapping Results

    Mapping involves applying a function to the value inside a result to produce a new result object.

    hashtag
    Mapping Success Values

    We can use to apply a function to the success value of a result, transforming it into a new success value. If the result is a failure, it remains unchanged.

    In this example, we wrap a String inside a Result object and invoke mapSuccess to calculate its length and wrap it inside a new Result object.

    hashtag
    Mapping Failure Values

    Next up, we can use to apply a function to the failure value, transforming it into a new one. If the result is a success, it remains unchanged.

    Here, we invoke mapFailure to transform the failure type of the result from String to Boolean for demonstration purposes.

    hashtag
    Mapping Both Success and Failure

    The method simultaneously handles both success and failure cases by applying two separate functions: one for transforming the success value and one for transforming the failure value.

    hashtag
    Flat-Mapping Results

    Flat-mapping is used to chain operations that return results themselves, flattening the nested structures into a single result object. This allows you to transform a success into a failure, or a failure into a success.

    To illustrate flat-mapping concepts, the next examples will follow a familiar "pet store" theme. This involves three Java types: Pet, PetError, and PetStore. These types will help us demonstrate the effective use of flat-mapping methods.

    With these types defined, we'll explore how to use various flat-mapping methods to transform result objects and manage pet-related operations in our imaginary pet store.

    hashtag
    Flat-Mapping Successful Results

    Use to chain an operation that returns a result object. This method applies a mapping function to the success value, replacing the original result with the new one returned by the function. If the result is a failure, it remains unchanged.

    This example starts with a successful result containing a wrong pet ID (not found in the pet store). When we flat-map it with the store's find method reference, the final result contains a pet error.

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    Flat-Mapping Failed Results

    Use to chain a result-bearing operation. This method also replaces the original result with the new one returned by the mapping function. If the result is a success, it remains unchanged.

    Here we start with a failed result containing a pet error. When we flat-map it with the store's getDefaultPetId method reference, the final result contains the ID of the default pet in the store.

    hashtag
    Flat-Mapping Both Success and Failure

    The method handles both success and failure cases by applying the appropriate function based on the status of the original result.

    This example starts with a successful result containing a wrong pet ID (not found in the pet store). When we flat-map it with the store's find method reference, the final result contains a pet error.

    Here we start with a failed result containing a pet error. When we flat-map it with the store's getDefaultPetId method reference, the final result contains the ID of the default pet in the store.

    hashtag
    Conclusion

    We demonstrated how to transform results in a concise and functional manner, enhancing the clarity and flexibility of your error-handling and data-processing logic.

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    @Test
    void testMapSuccess() {
      // Given
      Result<String, ?> result = success("HELLO");
      // When
      Result<Integer, ?> mapped = result.mapSuccess(String::length);
      // Then
      assertEquals(5, mapped.orElse(null));
    }
    @Test
    void testMapFailure() {
      // Given
      Result<?, BigDecimal> result = failure(ONE);
      // When
      Result<?, Boolean> mapped = result.mapFailure(TWO::equals);
      // Then
      assertFalse(mapped.getFailure().orElse(null));
    }
    @Test
    void testMap() {
      // Given
      Result<String, BigDecimal> result1 = success("HELLO");
      Result<String, BigDecimal> result2 = failure(ONE);
      // When
      Result<Integer, Boolean> mapped1 = result1.map(String::length, TWO::equals);
      Result<Integer, Boolean> mapped2 = result2.map(String::length, TWO::equals);
      // Then
      assertEquals(5, mapped1.orElse(null));
      assertFalse(mapped2.getFailure().orElse(null));
    }
    enum PetError {NOT_FOUND, NO_CONFIG}
    
    record Pet(long id, String name) {
    
      static final Pet DEFAULT = new Pet(0, "Default pet");
      static final Pet ROCKY = new Pet(1, "Rocky");
      static final Pet GARFIELD = new Pet(2, "Garfield");
    }
    
    record PetStore(Pet... pets) {
    
      PetStore() {
        this(Pet.ROCKY, Pet.GARFIELD);
      }
    
      Result<Pet, PetError> find(long id) {
        Optional<Pet> found = stream(pets).filter(pet -> pet.id() == id).findAny();
        return Results.ofOptional(found, NOT_FOUND);
      }
    
      Result<Pet, PetError> getDefaultPet(PetError error) {
        return error == NO_CONFIG ? success(Pet.DEFAULT) : failure(error);
      }
    
      Result<Long, PetError> getDefaultPetId(PetError error) {
        return getDefaultPet(error).mapSuccess(Pet::id);
      }
    }
    @Test
    void testFlatMapSuccess() {
      // Given
      PetStore store = new PetStore();
      Result<Long, PetError> result = success(100L);
      // When
      Result<Pet, PetError> mapped = result.flatMapSuccess(store::find);
      // Then
      assertEquals(NOT_FOUND, mapped.getFailure().orElse(null));
    }
    @Test
    void testFlatMapFailure() {
      // Given
      PetStore store = new PetStore();
      Result<Long, PetError> result = failure(NO_CONFIG);
      // When
      Result<Long, PetError> mapped = result.flatMapFailure(store::getDefaultPetId);
      // Then
      assertEquals(Pet.DEFAULT.id(), mapped.orElse(null));
    }
    @Test
    void testFlatMap() {
      // Given
      PetStore store = new PetStore();
      Result<Long, PetError> result1 = success(100L);
      Result<Long, PetError> result2 = failure(NO_CONFIG);
      // When
      Result<Pet, PetError> mapped1 = result1.flatMap(store::find, store::getDefaultPet);
      Result<Pet, PetError> mapped2 = result2.flatMap(store::find, store::getDefaultPet);
      // Then
      assertEquals(NOT_FOUND, mapped1.getFailure().orElse(null));
      assertEquals(Pet.DEFAULT, mapped2.orElse(null));
    }