Data models

Data models are used by Gloop to store application data in memory¹ while your applications are running. They are very good at reading and writing themselves to and from XML, JSON, YAML, common flat file formats², SQL databases via SQL services, and others more. They are also great at automatically converting various types of Java objects into the type the Gloop object itself expects³.

Data models, like Java objects, contain properties⁴. They are analogous to JavaBeans in that they are basically objects comprised of properties such as Strings, Integers, Dates, Booleans, and so on. However, Data model properties are also Gloop objects. Gloop objects contain extra functionality and a common set of properties to make configuring Gloop objects easier. Below is a list of the types of Gloop objects available in alphabetical order and their counterparts in Java:

Gloop object type	Wrapped Java equivalent
BigDecimal	java.math.BigDecimal
BigInteger	java.math.BigInteger
Boolean	java.lang.Boolean
Byte	java.lang.Byte
ByteArray	byte[]
Character	java.lang.Character
Date	java.util.Date
Double	java.lang.Double
Float	java.lang.Float
Integer	java.lang.Integer
Long	java.lang.Long
Model	N/A
Object	java.lang.Object
Short	java.lang.Short
String	java.lang.String

Gloop + Groovy = ❤️

Data models are also very easy to manipulate using Groovy code. The code you would write to work with JavaBeans and Data models is the same. For example, the code below works for JavaBeans and data models:

// Say you have a JavaBean with a property called stringProperty 
// or a Gloop model with a property called stringProperty
myJavaBeanOrGloopModel.stringProperty = 'World!'
println "Hello, ${myJavaBeanOrGloopModel.stringProperty}!"

// Add an entry to a Gloop model or JavaBean array property:
myJavaBeanOrGloopModel.myStringArray << 'Earth!'

You can also dynamically add new properties to a Gloop model. To do this, Allow Extra Properties must be set to true. For example:

// Enable extra properties in 'myGloopModel'
myGloopModel.setAllowExtraProperties(true)

// Add a new property called 'extraProperty' to 'myGloopModel'
myGloopModel.extraProperty = 'Hello, world!'

Data models can also easily be manipulated using any of the supported languages in GraalVM.

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1. Like Java objects. ↩

2. Such as CSV and fixed width text files with the help of services. ↩

3. Such as File to InputStream, String to Integer, etc. ↩

4. or in OOP, member variables ↩