How to return multiple objects from a Java method?

Question

I want to return two objects from a Java method and was wondering what could be a good way of doing so?

The possible ways I can think of are: return a HashMap<

Answer 1

Alternatively, in situations where I want to return a number of things from a method I will sometimes use a callback mechanism instead of a container. This works very well in situations where I cannot specify ahead of time just how many objects will be generated.

With your particular problem, it would look something like this:

public class ResultsConsumer implements ResultsGenerator.ResultsCallback
{
    public void handleResult( String name, Object value )
    {
        ... 
    }
}

public class ResultsGenerator
{
    public interface ResultsCallback
    {
        void handleResult( String aName, Object aValue );
    }

    public void generateResults( ResultsGenerator.ResultsCallback aCallback )
    {
        Object value = null;
        String name = null;

        ...

        aCallback.handleResult( name, value );
    }
}