Groovy: Import Aliases

A feature I like in Groovy is the ability to import class with aliases. I had forgotten about this feature, so I'm writing about it here to help get it to stick with me a bit.

Take this Spock test class tha has to define a couple several values of a couple types:

    import org.company.id.CorporateSymbol
    import org.company.id.CorporateName

    class CorporationMapperSpec extends Specification {

        @Subject
        CorporationMapper mapper = new CorporationMapper()

        def 'maps corporate symbols to names'() {
            expect:
            symbolsToNames == mapper.map(symbols)
        }

        def symbol1 = new CorporateSymbol('KRA')
        def symbol2 = new CorporateSymbol('VLY'),
        def symbll3 = new CorporateSymbol('KRS'),

        def symbolsToNames = [
            (symbol1): new CorporateName('Kramerica')
            (symbol2): new CorporateName('Vandalay')
            (symbol3): new CorporateName('Kruger')
        }
    }

We can use aliases with the import statements to make the code easier to work with:

    import org.company.id.CorporateSymbol as CS
    import org.company.id.CorporateName as CN

    class CorporationMapperSpec extends Specification {

        @Subject
        CorporationMapper mapper = new CorporationMapper()

        def 'maps corporate symbols to names'() {
            expect:
            symbolsToNames == mapper.map(symbols)
        }

        def symbol1 = new CS('KRA')
        def symbol2 = new CS('VLY'),
        def symbll3 = new CS('KRS'),

        def symbolsToNames = [
            (symbol1): new CN('Kramerica')
            (symbol2): new CN('Vandalay')
            (symbol3): new CN('Kruger')
        }
    }

I would be a little wary about using it in main source, as it does add a little bit of indirection to the readability of the code, but for test source, I think it can definitely help making the code easier to read and work with.