Comparator class throwing ClassCastException while Sorting

Question

I am trying to sort List of Object but it giving class cast exception. In Stacktrace it is showing that I am casting LinkedHashMap to Employee class. I am able to convert json to List object successfully but while sorting I am getting class cast exception.

    @RequestMapping(value="/getAllEmployee/sortbyname",produces=MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON,consumes=MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
    @ResponseBody
    @POST
    public String sortByName(@RequestBody String json) throws JsonMappingException, IOException{
        logger.debug("Reached");
        logger.debug(json);
        List<Employee> list = JsonObjectConverter.mapFromJson(json.toString(), List.class); //converting to Object
        logger.debug(list);
        list.sort(new SortByName());

        return JsonObjectConverter.mapToJson(list);
    }

Here is my Comparator class

public class SortByName implements Comparator<Employee> {

    @Override
    public int compare(Employee emp1, Employee emp2) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return emp1.getFirstName().compareTo(emp2.getFirstName());
    }

}

This is the exception stacktrace I am getting

java.lang.ClassCastException: java.util.LinkedHashMap cannot be cast to org.ws.tutorial.model.Employee
    at org.ws.tutorial.utility.sort.SortByName.compare(SortByName.java:1)
    at java.util.TimSort.countRunAndMakeAscending(TimSort.java:355)
    at java.util.TimSort.sort(TimSort.java:220)
    at java.util.Arrays.sort(Arrays.java:1512)
    at java.util.ArrayList.sort(ArrayList.java:1454)
    at java.util.Collections.sort(Collections.java:175)
    at org.ws.tutorial.controller.DefaultController.sortByName(DefaultController.java:58)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.doInvoke(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:205)
    at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:133)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:97)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:827)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:738)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:85)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:967)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:901)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:970)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:872)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:660)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:846)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:741)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:231)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:53)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.RequestContextFilter.doFilterInternal(RequestContextFilter.java:99)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.HttpPutFormContentFilter.doFilterInternal(HttpPutFormContentFilter.java:105)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.HiddenHttpMethodFilter.doFilterInternal(HiddenHttpMethodFilter.java:81)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:197)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.boot.web.support.ErrorPageFilter.doFilter(ErrorPageFilter.java:115)
    at org.springframework.boot.web.support.ErrorPageFilter.access$000(ErrorPageFilter.java:59)
    at org.springframework.boot.web.support.ErrorPageFilter$1.doFilterInternal(ErrorPageFilter.java:90)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.springframework.boot.web.support.ErrorPageFilter.doFilter(ErrorPageFilter.java:108)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:199)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:96)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:475)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:140)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:80)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:625)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:87)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:342)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:498)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:796)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1372)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

What library are you using? I'm unable to find documentation on `JsonObjectConverter.mapFromJson`... — Steven Baldasty, Aug 12 '17 at 17:01

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 12 '17 at 17:01

Your mapFromJson method is returning a List containing LinkedHashMap objects as elements, instead of Employee objects. Such a list was capable of being assigned to a List<Employee> at runtime due to type erasure. Did you not get any compiler warnings about it?

The exception occurs when calling your comparator, which expects two Employee objects as arguments, but instead is passed LinkedHashMap objects.

You should check the Javadoc (or source code) of the mapFromJson method, and see what you need to do to obtain a List<Employee>.

Comparator class throwing ClassCastException while Sorting

1 Answers1