java.text

Class Format

Implemented Interfaces:
Cloneable, Serializable
Known Direct Subclasses:
DateFormat, MessageFormat, NumberFormat

public abstract class Format
extends Object
implements Serializable, Cloneable

This class is the abstract superclass of classes that format and parse data to/from Strings. It is guaranteed that any String produced by a concrete subclass of Format will be parseable by that same subclass.

In addition to implementing the abstract methods in this class, subclasses should provide static factory methods of the form getInstance() and getInstance(Locale) if the subclass loads different formatting/parsing schemes based on locale. These subclasses should also implement a static method called getAvailableLocales() which returns an array of available locales in the current runtime environment.

See Also:
Serialized Form

Nested Class Summary

static class
Format.Field

Constructor Summary

Format()
This method initializes a new instance of Format.

Method Summary

Object
clone()
Creates a copy of this object.
String
format(Object obj)
This method formats an Object into a String.
abstract StringBuffer
format(Object obj, StringBuffer sb, FieldPosition pos)
This method formats an Object into a String and appends the String to a StringBuffer.
AttributedCharacterIterator
formatToCharacterIterator(Object obj)
Object
parseObject(String str)
This method parses a String and converts the parsed contents into an Object.
abstract Object
parseObject(String str, ParsePosition pos)
This method parses a String and converts the parsed contents into an Object.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, extends Object> getClass, finalize, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Details

Format

public Format()
This method initializes a new instance of Format. It performs no actions, but acts as a default constructor for subclasses.

Method Details

clone

public Object clone()
Creates a copy of this object.
Overrides:
clone in interface Object
Returns:
The copied Object.

format

public final String format(Object obj)
            throws IllegalArgumentException
This method formats an Object into a String.
Parameters:
obj - The Object to format.
Returns:
The formatted String.
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - If the Object cannot be formatted.

format

public abstract StringBuffer format(Object obj,
                                    StringBuffer sb,
                                    FieldPosition pos)
            throws IllegalArgumentException
This method formats an Object into a String and appends the String to a StringBuffer.
Parameters:
obj - The Object to format.
sb - The StringBuffer to append to.
pos - The desired FieldPosition, which is also updated by this call.
Returns:
The updated StringBuffer.
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - If the Object cannot be formatted.

formatToCharacterIterator

public AttributedCharacterIterator formatToCharacterIterator(Object obj)

parseObject

public Object parseObject(String str)
            throws ParseException
This method parses a String and converts the parsed contents into an Object.
Parameters:
str - The String to parse.
Returns:
The resulting Object.
Throws:
ParseException - If the String cannot be parsed.

parseObject

public abstract Object parseObject(String str,
                                   ParsePosition pos)
This method parses a String and converts the parsed contents into an Object.
Parameters:
str - The String to parse.
pos - The starting parse index on input, the ending parse index on output.
Returns:
The parsed Object, or null in case of error.

Format.java -- Abstract superclass for formatting/parsing strings. Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This file is part of GNU Classpath. GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination. As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.