Kotlin - Constructors

What is Constructor?

Constructor is a special method which is used to initialize the class object.

In Kotlin we have two type of constructors. primary constructor secondary constructor primary constructor is used to initialize the class. It is declared at class header.

class Employee constructor(name:String){
}

  we can also define primary contructor like below

class Employee (name:String){

}

What is init block in Kotlin?

with primary constructor we can just initialize member varibles, if we want to execute on primary constructor, then will use the initilizer block

class Employee (name:String){
    init{
        println(name)
    }
}

fun main(args:Array)
{
  var obj=Employee("Chandu");
}

now it will prints name chandu in console. if we define a member variable in Employee class

class Employee (name:String){
   var name:String?=null;
    init{
        (name)
     }
}
fun main(args:Array)
 {
    var obj=Employee("Chandu");
    println(obj.name);
  }

output:
Chandu
null

why here obj.name return null?

constructor member can't acces from out side class, so the member vaible of class name was called on object creation and returns null; So How can i assign the value to class member varible? inside init{} block we can assign the constructor variable to class variable like below

class Employee (name:String){
    var name:String?=null;
    init{
        println(name);
        this.name=name;
    }
}

Now it prints
Chandu
Chandu

The Priority of class will go like below

primary constructor -> init block -> class variables

Default value constructor

class Employee (name:String,sal:Float=2000.0f){
 var name:String?=null;
 init{
     println(name +", His salary is  "+sal);
     this.name=name;
    }
    }

now the output will be

Chandu, His salary is 2000.0

While object creation we are not passing any value for sal argment, so it will take default value 2000.0

Secondary Constructor:

In Any Kotlin classs we can create one or more secondary Constructors

class Employee {

     constructor(name:String,sal:Float,ex:Float) {
        println(name +", His salary is  "+sal+" and experience: $ex");
    }
 constructor(name:String,sal:Float)  {
        println(name +", His salary is  "+sal);
     }
 }
 fun main(args:Array)
 {

     Employee("Chandu",1200.0f,12f);
     Employee("Chandu",1200.0f);

 }

Output

Chandu, His salary is 1200.0 and experience: 12.0

Chandu, His salary is 1200.0

Multiple Secondary Constructors

fun main(args: Array)
 {
     Add(5, 6)
     Add(5, 6, 7)
     Add(5, 6, 7, 8)
 }

 //class with three secondary constructors
 
 class Add
 {
     constructor(a: Int, b: Int)
     {
         var c = a + b
         println("Sum of 1, 2 = ${c}")
     }

     constructor(a: Int, b: Int, c: Int)
     {
         var d = a + b + c
         println("Sum of 1, 2, 3 = ${d}")
     }

     constructor(a: Int, b: Int, c: Int, d: Int)
     {
         var e = a + b + c + d
         println("Sum of 1, 2, 3, 4 = ${e}")
     }
 }

output

Sum of 1, 2 = 3

Sum of 1, 2, 3 = 6

Sum of 1, 2, 3, 4 = 10

Secondary Constructor Between Parent and Child Classes

fun main(args: Array)
 {
      Manager(1,"Chandu");

 }
 
 open class Employee {
 
   constructor (emp_id: Int, emp_name: String, emp_salary: Double) {
       var id: Int = emp_id
       var name: String = emp_name
       var salary : Double = emp_salary

       println("Employee id is: $id")
       println("Employee name: $name")
       println("Employee salary: $salary")
       println()
  }
}
class Manager : Employee {
       constructor (emp_id : Int, emp_name: String):super(emp_id,emp_name,500000.55){
       var id: Int = emp_id
       var name: String = emp_name

       println("Manager id is: $id")
       println("Manager name: $name")
   }
}

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