How can I access the original map after wrapping it with ObservableMap?

Question

I've created a map and then wrapped it as an ObservableMap. Later on, I try to access the original, unwrapped map, but I can't seem to access it. It seems to come back null.

private def _swarms = [:]
private def swarms = new ObservableMap(_swarms)
...
def orig = swarms.content        // returns null
orig = swarms.mapDelegate        // returns null

I don't see anything else at http://groovy.codehaus.org/api/groovy/util/ObservableMap.html that looks promising.

Answer 1

We cannot refer the property as a field in case of a Map interface. It will try to look for a key with that name and would return null if key<->value pair is absent. Try this instead:

def _swarms = [ a : 1 ]
def swarms = new ObservableMap( _swarms )

assert swarms.getContent() == [ a : 1 ]
assert swarms.getMapDelegate() == [ a : 1 ]

// Similar anomaly
assert !swarms.class
assert swarms.getClass().simpleName == "ObservableMap"

Similarly, you cannot use .class on Map. Instead getClass() has to be used.