Delegated Properties

There are certain common kinds of properties, that, though we can implement them manually every time we need them, would be very nice to implement once and for all, and put into a library. Examples include

• lazy properties: the value gets computed only upon first access,
• observable properties: listeners get notified about changes to this property,
• storing properties in a map, not in separate field each.

To cover these (and other) cases, Kotlin supports delegated properties:

class Example {
  var p: String by Delegate()
}

The syntax is: val/var <property name>: <Type> by <expression>. The expression after by{:.keyword} is the delegate, because get() (and set()) corresponding to the property will be delegated to its getValue() and setValue() methods. Property delegates don’t have to implement any interface, but they have to provide a getValue() function (and setValue() --- for var{:.keyword}'s). For example:

class Delegate {
  operator fun getValue(thisRef: Any?, property: KProperty<*>): String {
    return "$thisRef, thank you for delegating '${property.name}' to me!"
  }

  operator fun setValue(thisRef: Any?, property: KProperty<*>, value: String) {
    println("$value has been assigned to '${property.name} in $thisRef.'")
  }
}

When we read from p that delegates to an instance of Delegate, the getValue() function from Delegate is called, so that its first parameter is the object we read p from and the second parameter holds a description of p itself (e.g. you can take its name). For example:

val e = Example()
println(e.p)

This prints

Example@33a17727, thank you for delegating ‘p’ to me!

Similarly, when we assign to p, the setValue() function is called. The first two parameters are the same, and the third holds the value being assigned:

e.p = "NEW"

This prints

NEW has been assigned to ‘p’ in Example@33a17727.

Property Delegate Requirements

Here we summarize requirements to delegate objects.

For a read-only property (i.e. a val{:.keyword}), a delegate has to provide a function named getValue that takes the following parameters:

• receiver --- must be the same or a supertype of the property owner (for extension properties --- the type being extended),
• metadata --- must be of type KProperty<*> or its supertype,

this function must return the same type as property (or its subtype).

For a mutable property (a var{:.keyword}), a delegate has to additionally provide a function named setValue that takes the following parameters:

• receiver --- same as for getValue(),
• metadata --- same as for getValue(),
• new value --- must be of the same type as a property or its supertype.

getValue() and/or setValue() functions may be provided either as member functions of the delegate class or extension functions. The latter is handy when you need to delegate property to an object which doesn't originally provide these functions. Both of the functions need to be marked with the operator keyword.

Standard Delegates

The Kotlin standard library provides factory methods for several useful kinds of delegates.

Lazy

lazy() is a function that takes a lambda and returns an instance of Lazy<T> which can serve as a delegate for implementing a lazy property: the first call to get() executes the lambda passed to lazy() and remembers the result, subsequent calls to get() simply return the remembered result.

val lazyValue: String by lazy {
    println("computed!")
    "Hello"
}

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    println(lazyValue)
    println(lazyValue)
}

By default, the evaluation of lazy properties is synchronized: the value is computed only in one thread, and all threads will see the same value. If the synchronization of initialization delegate is not required, so that multiple threads can execute it simultaneously, pass LazyThreadSafetyMode.PUBLICATION as a parameter to the lazy() function. And if you're sure that the initialization will always happen on a single thread, you can use LazyThreadSafetyMode.NONE mode, which doesn't incur any thread-safety guarantees and the related overhead.

Observable

Delegates.observable() takes two arguments: the initial value and a handler for modifications. The handler gets called every time we assign to the property (after the assignment has been performed). It has three parameters: a property being assigned to, the old value and the new one:

import kotlin.properties.Delegates

class User {
    var name: String by Delegates.observable("<no name>") {
        prop, old, new ->
        println("$old -> $new")
    }
}

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    val user = User()
    user.name = "first"
    user.name = "second"
}

This example prints

<no name> -> first
first -> second

If you want to be able to intercept an assignment and "veto" it, use vetoable() instead of observable(). The handler passed to the vetoable is called before the assignment of a new property value has been performed.

Storing Properties in a Map

One common use case is storing the values of properties in a map. This comes up often in applications like parsing JSON or doing other “dynamic” things. In this case, you can use the map instance itself as the delegate for a delegated property.

class User(val map: Map<String, Any?>) {
    val name: String by map
    val age: Int     by map
}

In this example, the constructor takes a map:

val user = User(mapOf(
    "name" to "John Doe",
    "age"  to 25
))

Delegated properties take values from this map (by the string keys --– names of properties):

println(user.name) // Prints "John Doe"
println(user.age)  // Prints 25

This works also for var{:.keyword}’s properties if you use a MutableMap instead of read-only Map:

class MutableUser(val map: MutableMap<String, Any?>) {
    var name: String by map
    var age: Int     by map
}