I have a problem concerning a HashMap in Java. To explain the problem in a detailed way, i will first post some code you can refer to.
public void BLASTroute(String args[]) throws IOException, InterruptedException{
...
correctMapping CM = new correctMapping();
CM.correctMapping(RB.BLASTresults, exists);
CalculateNewConsensusSequence CNCS =
new CalculateNewConsensusSequence();
char[] consensus = CNCS.calculateNewConsensusSequence(
CM.newSeq, CM.remindGaps, EMBLreaderReference.sequence, exists);
HashMap<Integer, ArrayList<String>> gapsFused =
new HashMap<Integer, ArrayList<String>>();
for (Integer i : CM.remindGaps.keySet()) {
ArrayList<String> newList = CM.remindGaps.get(i);
gapsFused.put(i, newList);
}
GenerateGeneLists GGL = new GenerateGeneLists(
EMBLreaderReference, CM.newSeq, gapsFused, exists,
GQList, allMappedPositions);
System.out.println(CM.remindGaps.hashCode());
gapsFused=GGL.generateGeneListSNP(gapsFused);
System.out.println(CM.remindGaps.hashCode());
System.out.println(gapsFused.hashCode());
GGL.generateGeneListFrameShift(gapsFused);
}
The following occurs:
in my class correctMapping, i fill a global variable called remindGaps. I use it later in some functions, and nothing happens/everything works as expected.
Then, i make a copy of the HashMap called gapsFused (i don’t know if this has something to do with my problem).
Now comes the interesting part: In the class GenerateGeneLists, i don’t do a thing with the remindGaps HashMap.
However, after the function generateGeneListSNP is performed, remindGaps changed! I’ll post the code for you as well, so that you can help me better:
public GenerateGeneLists(EMBL_reader EMBLreaderReference,
HashMap<String,ArrayList<String>> newSeq,
HashMap<Integer,ArrayList<String>> gapsFused, File exists,
ArrayList<GeneQualifier> GQlist,
HashMap<Integer,Integer> allMappedPositions)
throws InterruptedException{
this.EMBLreaderReference=EMBLreaderReference;
this.newSeq=newSeq;
//this.gapsFused=gapsFused;
this.exists=exists;
this.GQlist=GQlist;
this.allMappedPositions=allMappedPositions;
for (GeneQualifier GQ : this.GQlist){
startlist.add(GQ.start);
stoplist.add(GQ.stop);
startMap.put(GQ.start,GQ);
}
}
public HashMap<Integer,ArrayList<String>> generateGeneListSNP(
HashMap<Integer,ArrayList<String>> gapsFused)
throws IOException{
File GQSNP = new File (exists+"/GQsnp.txt");
BufferedWriter SNP = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(GQSNP));
SNP.write("#Gene_start\tGene_stop\tlocus_tag\tproduct" +
"\tputative_SNP_positions(putative_changes)\n");
HashMap<GeneQualifier,ArrayList<Integer>> GQreminder =
new HashMap<GeneQualifier,ArrayList<Integer>>();
for (String s : newSeq.keySet()){
ArrayList<String> blub = newSeq.get(s);
char[] qrySeq = blub.get(0).toCharArray();
char[] refSeq = blub.get(1).toCharArray();
int start = Integer.valueOf(blub.get(2));
int stop = Integer.valueOf(blub.get(3));
for (int i=0;i<refSeq.length;i++){
if (qrySeq[i]!=refSeq[i]&&qrySeq[i]!='-'&&qrySeq[i]!='.'){
if (mismatchList.containsKey(start+i)){
ArrayList<Character> blah = mismatchList.get(start+i);
blah.add(qrySeq[i]);
mismatchList.put(start+i, blah);
}
else {
ArrayList<Character> blah = new ArrayList<Character>();
blah.add(qrySeq[i]);
mismatchList.put(start+i,blah);
}
}
else if (qrySeq[i]!=refSeq[i]&&(qrySeq[i]=='-'||qrySeq[i]=='.')){
if (!gapsFused.containsKey(start+i)){
ArrayList<String> qwer = new ArrayList<String>();
qwer.add(String.valueOf(qrySeq[i]));
gapsFused.put(start+i,qwer);
}
else {
ArrayList<String> qwer = gapsFused.get(start+i);
qwer.add(String.valueOf(qrySeq[i]));
gapsFused.put(start+i,qwer);
}
if (!deletionPositionsAndCount.containsKey((start+i))){
int count = 1;
deletionPositionsAndCount.put(start+i, count);
}
else {
int count = deletionPositionsAndCount.get(start+i);
count = count+1;
deletionPositionsAndCount.put(start+i, count);
}
}
}
}
for (Integer a : mismatchList.keySet()){
for (int i=0;i<startlist.size();i++){
int start = startlist.get(i);
int stop = stoplist.get(i);
if (a>=start && a<=stop){
GeneQualifier GQ = startMap.get(start);
if (!GQreminder.containsKey(GQ)){
ArrayList save = new ArrayList<Integer>();
save.add(a);
GQreminder.put(GQ,save);
}
else {
ArrayList save = GQreminder.get(GQ);
save.add(a);
GQreminder.put(GQ,save);
}
break;
}
}
}
for (GeneQualifier GQ : GQreminder.keySet()) {
ArrayList<Integer> save = GQreminder.get(GQ);
int start = GQ.start;
int stop = GQ.stop;
String locus_tag =
GQ.geneFeatures.get("locus_tag").get(0).replace("\n", "");
String product =
GQ.geneFeatures.get("product").get(0).replace("\n", "");
SNP.write(start + "\t" + stop + "\t" + locus_tag +
"\t" + product + "\t");
boolean end = false;
for (int i = 0; i < save.size(); i++) {
if (i==save.size()-1) end=true;
int posi = save.get(i);
SNP.write(posi + "(");
ArrayList<Character> mismatches = mismatchList.get(posi);
for (int j = 0; j < mismatches.size(); j++) {
char snipp = mismatches.get(j);
if (j == mismatches.size() - 1) {
SNP.write(snipp + ")");
} else {
SNP.write(snipp + ",");
}
}
if (end == false){
SNP.write(",");
}
}
SNP.write("\n");
}
SNP.close();
return gapsFused;
}
As you can see, remindGaps is not used in this class, but still it undergoes changes. Do you have an idea why this is the case?
What I tested is, whether remindGaps changes if i manually change gapsFused (the made copy of the first HashMap). This is not the case, so i don’t think that the copying process went wrong (for example only points to the other HashMap or references it).
I would really appreciate your ideas and help in order to solve this problem.
You have to remember that in Java all objects are passed as reference. So, when you did:
you basically pointed newList to the same list as contained in the remindGaps map. Now, even though you work with the gapsFused, any changes to its values effect the same underlying list in the memory – to which both remindGaps and gapsFused are pointing.
Change your copy code to the following and see if it makes a difference:
By doing this, you are creating a new list that newList will be pointing to and thus the changes will be encapsulated.