How to get all attribute names in SimpleFeature?

Question

How to get all attribute names in SimpleFeature?

I find no appropriate method. I can get all attributes by getAttributes, but I will loose names information. I can get attribute by name with getAttribute, but I should know a name first.

So where is the method to enumerate names or what is the reason it absent?

Answer 1

You may try SimpleFeature.getFeatureType() which gets you a meta description SimpleFeatureType. On this object you may use some of the descriptor methods, e.g. getAttributeDescriptors(). The last method lists the attribute meta descriptors and they are the point from where you get the name: AttributeDescriptor.getLocalName().

Another way is SimpleFeature.getProperties() which yields a collection of Properties where you can call getName(). Compare to the descriptions of the various g/setAttribute* of SimpleFeature which document that g/setAttribute* are shortcuts to the corresponding g/setProperty* methods.

Be aware of namespaces.