org.josef.util

Class FormatWithSeparators

java.lang.Object

org.josef.util.FormatWithSeparators

@Status(stage=DEVELOPMENT,
        unitTests=ABSENT)
public final class FormatWithSeparators
extends Object

Utility class to format beans where properties of the bean are separated by conditional separators.
Properties are expressed by property expressions and separators by separator expressions. using the default characters (accolades) for property expressions, a simple property expression may look like this: {propertyName}. Properties can be chained using a point like this: {parent.child}. It is allowed to use an array expression after the name of a property like this: {propertyName[int]}. Where int is any 0 based index.
By default, separator expressions are delimited by guillemets "«»". An example of a separator expression that uses a space as a separator would look like this: "« »". Now consider having to display the name of a person, consisting of the given name, middle initials and the surname. For example: "Daniel C Dennet". In the absence of either the name or middle initials, you do not want the following output: " C Dennet" or " Dennet". this is where this class comes in. Assuming you have a person class with the above fields, you can format a persons name like this:
FormatWithSeparators.formatBean( "{givenName}« »{middleInitials}« »{surname}", person);

Version:

2.0 $Revision: 5772 $

Author:

Kees Schotanus

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
static String	formatBean(String formatString, Object bean) Formats the supplied bean, using the supplied formatString, assuming that accolades "{}" are used for property expressions and guillemets "«»" for separator expressions.
static String	formatBean(String formatString, String propertyExpressionSeparators, String separatorExpressionSeparators, Object bean) Formats the supplied bean, using the supplied formatString that in turn uses the supplied separators for property expressions and separator expressions.
static String	replaceSeparatorExpressionsWithSeparators(String formatString, String separatorExpressionSeparators) Replaces all separator expressions in the supplied formatString with the actual separator characters that occur within the separator expression, provided that there is text, both left and right of the separator expression.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

formatBean

public static String formatBean(String formatString,
                                Object bean)

Formats the supplied bean, using the supplied formatString, assuming that accolades "{}" are used for property expressions and guillemets "«»" for separator expressions.

Parameters:

formatString - The format string used to format the supplied bean.

bean - The bean to format.

Returns:

The formatted bean in String format.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - When the supplied formatString is empty.

NullPointerException - When either the supplied formatString or bean is null.

formatBean

public static String formatBean(String formatString,
                                String propertyExpressionSeparators,
                                String separatorExpressionSeparators,
                                Object bean)

Formats the supplied bean, using the supplied formatString that in turn uses the supplied separators for property expressions and separator expressions.

Parameters:

formatString - The format string used to format the supplied bean.

propertyExpressionSeparators - The two (opening and closing) characters for property expressions.

separatorExpressionSeparators - The two (opening and closing) characters for separator expressions.

bean - The bean to format.

Returns:

The formatted bean in String format.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - When either the supplied formatString is empty or propertyExpressionSeparators does not contain 2 chars or separatorExpressionSeparators does not contain 2 chars.

NullPointerException - When either the supplied formatString, propertyExpressionSeparators or separatorExpressionSeparators or bean is null.

replaceSeparatorExpressionsWithSeparators

public static String replaceSeparatorExpressionsWithSeparators(String formatString,
                                                               String separatorExpressionSeparators)

Replaces all separator expressions in the supplied formatString with the actual separator characters that occur within the separator expression, provided that there is text, both left and right of the separator expression.

Parameters:

formatString - The format string, possibly containing separator expressions.

separatorExpressionSeparators - The two (opening and closing) characters for separator expressions.

Returns:

A string where all separator expressions have been replaced with their respective separator characters.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - When either the supplied formatString is empty or contains illegally formed separator expressions or when the supplied separatorExpressionSeparators does not contain exactly 2 separator characters.

NullPointerException - When either the supplied formatString or separatorExpressionSeparators is null.