Groovy: Direct field access operator (@)

When you try to access a field in Groovy, it calls the getter method implicitly. When you try to set a value to the variable, it calls the setter method implicitly.

HelloWorld.groovy

class Employee{
 String firstName
 String lastName
 
 String getFirstName(){
  println "Getting the firstName"
  return firstName
 }
 
 String getLastName(){
  println "Getting the lastName"
  return lastName
 }
 
 String setFirstName(String firstName){
  println "Setting the firstName"
  this.firstName = firstName
 }
 
 String setLastName(String lastName){
  println "Setting the firstName"
  this.lastName = lastName
 }
}

Employee emp = new Employee()
emp.firstName = "krishna"
emp.lastName = "Gurram"

printEmployeeDetails(emp)

void printEmployeeDetails(Employee employee){
 println "*******************************"
 String firstName = employee.firstName
 String lastName = employee.lastName
 
 println "[${firstName}, ${lastName}]"
 println "*******************************"
}

Output

Setting the firstName
Setting the firstName
*******************************
Getting the firstName
Getting the lastName
[krishna, Gurram]
*******************************

By using Direct field access operator (.@), you can access the property without calling getter and setter methods.

HelloWorld.groovy

class Employee{
 String firstName
 String lastName
 
 String getFirstName(){
  println "Getting the firstName"
  return firstName
 }
 
 String getLastName(){
  println "Getting the lastName"
  return lastName
 }
 
 String setFirstName(String firstName){
  println "Setting the firstName"
  this.firstName = firstName
 }
 
 String setLastName(String lastName){
  println "Setting the firstName"
  this.lastName = lastName
 }
}

Employee emp = new Employee()
emp.@firstName = "krishna"
emp.@lastName = "Gurram"

printEmployeeDetails(emp)

void printEmployeeDetails(Employee employee){
 println "*******************************"
 String firstName = employee.@firstName
 String lastName = employee.@lastName
 
 println "[${firstName}, ${lastName}]"
 println "*******************************"
}

Output

*******************************
[krishna, Gurram]
*******************************

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