Cannot use Java 8 method with lambda arguments without specifying type arguments

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Holger had the best answer in the comment section in my opinion:

This is a known limitation of Java 8’s type inference: it doesn’t work with chained method invocations like genericFactoryMethod().build().

Thanks! About my API, I will specify the functions before using them as arguments, like this:

Function<Entry<String, Set<String>>, String> keyMapper = Entry::getKey;
Function<Entry<String, Set<String>>, Stream<String>> valueMapper = entry -> entry.getValue().stream();

EDIT: I redesigned the API thanks to Holger’s comments (thanks again!). It keeps the original element instead of a key, along with the flattened value.

public static <T, R> Function<? super T, Stream<FlatEntry<T, R>>> flatEntryMapper(Function<? super T, ? extends Stream<? extends R>> mapper)
{
    return element -> mapper.apply(element).map(value -> new FlatEntry<>(element, value));
}

public static class FlatEntry<E, V>
{
    /** The original stream element */
    public final E element;

    /** The flattened value */
    public final V value;

    private FlatEntry (E element, V value)
    {
        this.element = element;
        this.value = value;
    }
}

It is chainable, starting with level 2 the mapper has to process a FlatEntry. The usage is similar to a simple flatMap:

Map<String, Map<String, Map<String, Set<String>>>> level3Map;

// gives a stream of all the flattened values
level3Map.entrySet()
         .stream()
         .flatMap(entry -> entry.getValue().entrySet().stream())
         .flatMap(entry -> entry.getValue().entrySet().stream())
         .flatMap(entry -> entry.getValue().stream());

// gives a stream of FlatEntries with flattened values and all their original elements in nested FlatEntries
level3Map.entrySet()
         .stream()
         .flatMap(GdkStreams.flatEntryMapper(entry -> entry.getValue().entrySet().stream()))
         .flatMap(GdkStreams.flatEntryMapper(flatEntry -> flatEntry.value.getValue().entrySet().stream()))
         .flatMap(GdkStreams.flatEntryMapper(flatEntry -> flatEntry.value.getValue().stream()));

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