Have A Look At This To Understand Sealed Class In Kotlin

What Is a Sealed Class in Kotlin?

A significant additional class type not seen in Java is introduced in Kotlin. The new type is known as a sealed class in Kotlin. A sealed class restricts the hierarchy of classes. The term "sealed" is used right before the class name to declare a class as sealed. When you have a sealed class declaration, the compiler recognizes that the class is sealed automatically. It serves as a marker to limit the hierarchy of classes.

Syntax of sealed class:

To define a sealed class, simply place the sealed keyword before the class modifier. The constructors of sealed classes are by default protected, which is another distinctive trait.

Now, understand when and why Sealed classes in Kotlin are used.

When and Why Are Sealed Classes Used?

Sealed classes are intended to be utilized. When just a small number of options are available for a value and each of these options differs in functionality. 

Kotlin's sealed class is one of the built-in classes that can be used to prevent users from inheriting a class. It can be sealed using the sealed keyword. The compiler is immediately informed that a class is sealed if you use and declare it with the sealed keyword. As a result, the class cannot be extended in this way with additional child classes.

Now you will understand some important points of the sealed class in Kotlin.

Important Points of the Sealed Class

• A sealed class's subclasses must all be specified in the same file as the sealed class itself.
• Sealed classes are abstract and can have abstract members.
• Public constructors cannot be used in sealed classes.
• Sealed classes cannot be instantiated directly.

Now, you will understand how to create a sealed class in Kotlin.

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Creating a Sealed Class

Although a sealed class is allowed to have subclasses, they must all be specified in the same Kotlin file.

In this example, the sealed class is named “First.” and has two subclasses defined. The first subclass is named Peter, and The second subclass is named Bob. You have defined print() functions in these subclasses, in which you have the Kotlin println function. 

The main function for showing the message from the subclasses follows. The "obj1" and "obj2" objects are subclasses that we have built. The subclasses "Peter" and "Bob" are being called by "obj1" and "obj2," respectively. The print() function is used to display the content of the subclasses on these objects "obj1" and "obj2."

Go ahead and move on to the next topic of sealed class in Kotlin.

Sealed Class With When Expression

The if, else, and switch case expressions used in Java are replaced by the when expression in Kotlin. These phrases ensure all possibilities have been considered by using the else branch. 

The when expression makes sure that all of the sealed class's subclasses are handled. If you neglect to handle a specific subclass of the sealed class, it will show an error. The else block is no longer required. However, you must use when as an expression and not a statement for it to be effective.

Now, have a look at this example.

In the code above, the sealed class is named Gadget. In a sealed class, you have three subclasses identified as Laptop, Phone, and Airpods. String values provided to these subclasses are present. Then, there is a display() function that accepts an object of type Gadget and displays a message corresponding to the kind of class sealed.

The "when" statement is present here instead of the "else" clause. You have passed a sealed class to the "when" expression, which will handle all cases. The word "is" serves as a filter to see if the class fits into one of the following categories in the "when" statement. Only classes require the use of the "is" keyword. 

Below is the output of the above example:

Now, you will have a look at the difference between sealed class and enum.

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Difference Between Sealed Class and Enum

You have the freedom to have different kinds of subclasses and the ability to contain the state, thanks to sealed classes. The crucial thing to keep in mind in this situation is that any subclasses that extend Sealed classes must either be nested classes of Sealed classes or must be declared in the same file as Sealed classes.

Enum types are constants, making it challenging to maintain various instance states.

A sealed class subclass can have several instances, each with its own state, unlike an enum constant, which only exists as a single instance.

In an enum class, you cannot define various functions in each enum constant.

A sealed class allows you to add various custom constructors as necessary easily.

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Conclusion

In this tutorial on Sealed classes in Kotlin, you understood when and why sealed classes are used and the important points of Sealed classes. You also learned about the creation of sealed classes and using Sealed classes with when. Additionally, you learned about the differences between sealed classes and enum classes and a few other topics in detail using examples. 

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