how does Model Mapper work behind the scenes?

[syed rizwan]

How does Model Mapper performs mapping when compared to other mapping frameworks? 

The below link shows a comparison of the performance of ModelMapper to that of Dozer.

https://code.google.com/p/modelmapper/wiki/Performance

How does model mapper achieves this? Can you given highlights on internal/implementation details?

[Jonathan Halterman]

Hi Syed,

I can't speak to how ModelMapper works as compared to Dozer, but I can certainly describe ModelMapper. 

First, have a look at the How it Works page in the docs, which describes how ModelMapper's implicit matching process works. For each source and destination type, ModelMapper creates a TypeMap which contains mappings that are either created implicitly by ModelMapper (as determined by the property matching process) or explicitly by user supplied PropertyMaps. Mappings describe exactly which path through the source object graph matches which path in the destination object graph (ex: Company.employee.address.street -> CompanyDTO.employeeStreetAddress), as well as other information. 

When ModelMapper.map is called, the TypeMap for the source and destination types is looked up and values are mapped accordingly. If no TypeMap exists for the source and destination types, one is created on the first map call and is reused thereafter. Mapping is an efficient process since all of the information needed to copy property values from an object of the source type to an object of the destination type is already captured in the TypeMap.

Hope that helps,

Jonathan

[syed rizwan]

Hi Jonathan,

These insights are useful. I understand that what involved basically is caching with the help of maps.

Thanks

--

Syed Rizwan

[VLADIMIR KRASILSCHIK]

Hi, Jonatan!

Could you please be more specific about underlying mapping method: is it reflection-based?

Best regards,

Vladimir Krasilschik

[Jonathan Halterman]

Hi Vladimir,

Yes, it uses reflection.

Cheers,

Jonathan