uk.ac.starlink.topcat.join

Class ValueCodec

java.lang.Object

uk.ac.starlink.topcat.join.ValueCodec

public abstract class ValueCodec
extends Object

Encodes and decodes values for a ValueInfo between different string representations.

Since:

7 Sep 2004

Author:

Mark Taylor (Starlink)

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
ValueCodec()

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
abstract String	formatValue(Object value, int maxLength) Returns a string representation of a given value in the context of this codec.
static ValueCodec[]	getCodecs(uk.ac.starlink.table.ValueInfo info) Returns an array of ValueCodec objects suitable for representing the values pertaining to a given ValueInfo object.
abstract Object	unformatString(String text) Decodes a string to give a value in the context of this codec.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Constructor Detail

ValueCodec

public ValueCodec()

Method Detail

unformatString

public abstract Object unformatString(String text)

Decodes a string to give a value in the context of this codec.

Parameters:

text - string representation of the value

Returns:

value object as read from text

formatValue

public abstract String formatValue(Object value,
                                   int maxLength)

Returns a string representation of a given value in the context of this codec. The returned string should be no longer than a given maximum length.

Parameters:

value - value object

maxLength - maximum number of characters in the returned string

Returns:

string representation of value

getCodecs

public static ValueCodec[] getCodecs(uk.ac.starlink.table.ValueInfo info)

Returns an array of ValueCodec objects suitable for representing the values pertaining to a given ValueInfo object. The returned array will contain at least one element, which just gets its implementation from the behaviour of the submitted ValueInfo itself, but it may contain more than this, for instance ones relating to different units.

Parameters:

info - description of the value to represent

Returns:

array of value codecs for info, containing at least one element