Is there a Java library that can “diff” two Objects?

Question

Is there a Java utility library that is analogous to the Unix program diff, but for Objects? I\'m looking for something that can compare two objects of the same type and ge

Answer 1

Maybe this will help, depending on where you use this code, it could be useful or problematic. Tested this code.

    /**
 * @param firstInstance
 * @param secondInstance
 */
protected static void findMatchingValues(SomeClass firstInstance,
        SomeClass secondInstance) {
    try {
        Class firstClass = firstInstance.getClass();
        Method[] firstClassMethodsArr = firstClass.getMethods();

        Class secondClass = firstInstance.getClass();
        Method[] secondClassMethodsArr = secondClass.getMethods();


        for (int i = 0; i < firstClassMethodsArr.length; i++) {
            Method firstClassMethod = firstClassMethodsArr[i];
            // target getter methods.
            if(firstClassMethod.getName().startsWith("get") 
                    && ((firstClassMethod.getParameterTypes()).length == 0)
                    && (!(firstClassMethod.getName().equals("getClass")))
            ){

                Object firstValue;
                    firstValue = firstClassMethod.invoke(firstInstance, null);

                logger.info(" Value "+firstValue+" Method "+firstClassMethod.getName());

                for (int j = 0; j < secondClassMethodsArr.length; j++) {
                    Method secondClassMethod = secondClassMethodsArr[j];
                    if(secondClassMethod.getName().equals(firstClassMethod.getName())){
                        Object secondValue = secondClassMethod.invoke(secondInstance, null);
                        if(firstValue.equals(secondValue)){
                            logger.info(" Values do match! ");
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
}