java.text

Class Format

java.lang.Object

java.text.Format

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, Cloneable

Direct Known 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

Nested Classes

Modifier and Type	Class and Description
static class	Format.Field

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Modifier	Constructor and Description
protected	Format() This method initializes a new instance of Format.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
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

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

Constructor Detail

Format

protected Format()

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

Method Detail

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.

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.

formatToCharacterIterator

public AttributedCharacterIterator formatToCharacterIterator(Object obj)

clone

public Object clone()

Creates a copy of this object.

Overrides:

clone in class Object

Returns:

The copied Object.

See Also:

Cloneable