de.jstacs.parameters
Class Parameter

java.lang.Object
  de.jstacs.AnnotatedEntity
      de.jstacs.parameters.Parameter

All Implemented Interfaces:

Storable, Cloneable

Direct Known Subclasses:

AbstractSelectionParameter, FileParameter, ParameterSetContainer, RangeParameter, SimpleParameter

public abstract class Parameter
extends AnnotatedEntity
implements Cloneable

Abstract class for a parameter that shall be used as the parameter of some method, constructor, etc. This class provides annotation of the parameter, e.g. a name and a comment, the data type, and additional properties for non-atomic parameters. The intention of the Parameter classes is to link this annotation directly to the parameter values, which could not be achieved by primitive data types.
Parameters should always be embedded into a ParameterSet and then passed to the respective method.

Author:

Jan Grau, Jens Keilwagen

See Also:

ParameterSet

Field Summary

protected ParameterSet

parent If this Parameter is enclosed in a ParameterSet, this variable holds a reference to that ParameterSet.

Fields inherited from class de.jstacs.AnnotatedEntity

comment, datatype, name

Constructor Summary

Parameter(StringBuffer xml)
The standard constructor for the interface Storable.

Parameter(String name, String comment, DataType type)
The main constructor which takes the main information of a Parameter.

Method Summary

protected void	appendFurtherInfos(StringBuffer buf) This method can be used in the method Storable.toXML() to extract further information (name, comment, datatype).
abstract boolean	checkValue(Object value) Checks the value for correctness, e.g. for numerical parameters this might be checking if the value is within specified bounds.
Parameter	clone()
protected void	extractFurtherInfos(StringBuffer source) This method can be used in the constructor with parameter StringBuffer to extract the further information.
abstract String	getErrorMessage() If a value could not be set successfully this method returns the corresponding error message.
ParameterSet	getParent() Returns a reference to the ParameterSet enclosing this Parameter.
abstract boolean	hasDefaultOrIsSet() Returns true if the parameter either has a default value or the value was set by the user, false otherwise.
abstract boolean	isAtomic() Returns true if the parameter is of an atomic data type, false otherwise.
boolean	isComparable(Parameter p) This method checks whether the given Parameter is comparable to the current instance, i.e. whether the Class, the DataType, the name and the comment are identical.
abstract boolean	isRequired() Returns true if the Parameter is required, false otherwise.
abstract boolean	isSet() Returns true if the parameter was set by the user, false otherwise.
abstract void	reset() Resets the parameter and its contents to the default values or null if no defaults are given.
abstract void	setDefault(Object defaultValue) Sets the default value of the Parameter to defaultValue.
void	setParent(ParameterSet parent) Sets the reference of the enclosing ParameterSet of this Parameter to parent.
abstract void	setValue(Object value) Sets the value of this Parameter to value.

Methods inherited from class de.jstacs.AnnotatedEntity

getComment, getDatatype, getName, getValue, getXMLTag, toXML

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Field Detail

parent

protected ParameterSet parent

If this Parameter is enclosed in a ParameterSet, this variable holds a reference to that ParameterSet.

Constructor Detail

Parameter

public Parameter(String name,
                 String comment,
                 DataType type)

The main constructor which takes the main information of a Parameter.

Parameters:

name - the name of the result

comment - the comment for the result

type - the data type of the result

Parameter

public Parameter(StringBuffer xml)
          throws NonParsableException

The standard constructor for the interface Storable. Creates a new Parameter out of its XML representation.

Parameters:

xml - the XML representation as StringBuffer

Throws:

NonParsableException - if the XML representation is not parsable

See Also:

Storable, extractFurtherInfos(StringBuffer)

Method Detail

isRequired

public abstract boolean isRequired()

Returns true if the Parameter is required, false otherwise.

Returns:

true if the Parameter is required, false otherwise

checkValue

public abstract boolean checkValue(Object value)

Checks the value for correctness, e.g. for numerical parameters this might be checking if the value is within specified bounds.

Parameters:

value - the value to be checked

Returns:

true if the value is valid, false otherwise

setValue

public abstract void setValue(Object value)
                       throws SimpleParameter.IllegalValueException

Sets the value of this Parameter to value.

Parameters:

value - the new value of the Parameter

Throws:

SimpleParameter.IllegalValueException - if the specified value is not valid for this Parameter

hasDefaultOrIsSet

public abstract boolean hasDefaultOrIsSet()

Returns true if the parameter either has a default value or the value was set by the user, false otherwise.

Returns:

true if value has a default value or was set, false otherwise

isSet

public abstract boolean isSet()

Returns true if the parameter was set by the user, false otherwise.

Returns:

true if the parameter was set, false otherwise

isAtomic

public abstract boolean isAtomic()

Returns true if the parameter is of an atomic data type, false otherwise.

Returns:

true if the parameter is atomic, false otherwise

getErrorMessage

public abstract String getErrorMessage()

If a value could not be set successfully this method returns the corresponding error message.

Returns:

an error message if a value could not be set successfully

reset

public abstract void reset()

Resets the parameter and its contents to the default values or null if no defaults are given.

clone

public Parameter clone()
                throws CloneNotSupportedException

Overrides:

clone in class Object

Throws:

CloneNotSupportedException

setDefault

public abstract void setDefault(Object defaultValue)
                         throws Exception

Sets the default value of the Parameter to defaultValue. This method also sets the current value of this Parameter to the default.

Parameters:

defaultValue - the default value

Throws:

Exception - if the default value is not an appropriate value for this Parameter

setParent

public void setParent(ParameterSet parent)

Sets the reference of the enclosing ParameterSet of this Parameter to parent.

Parameters:

parent - the new enclosing ParameterSet

getParent

public ParameterSet getParent()

Returns a reference to the ParameterSet enclosing this Parameter.

Returns:

the reference to the enclosing ParameterSet

extractFurtherInfos

protected void extractFurtherInfos(StringBuffer source)
                            throws NonParsableException

Description copied from class: AnnotatedEntity

This method can be used in the constructor with parameter StringBuffer to extract the further information.

Specified by:

extractFurtherInfos in class AnnotatedEntity

Parameters:

source - a XML represenation of the main information as StringBuffer

Throws:

NonParsableException - if the XML representation is not parsable

See Also:

AnnotatedEntity.AnnotatedEntity(StringBuffer)

appendFurtherInfos

protected void appendFurtherInfos(StringBuffer buf)

Description copied from class: AnnotatedEntity

This method can be used in the method Storable.toXML() to extract further information (name, comment, datatype).

Specified by:

appendFurtherInfos in class AnnotatedEntity

Parameters:

buf - a XML representation of the main information as StringBuffer

See Also:

Storable.toXML()

isComparable

public boolean isComparable(Parameter p)

This method checks whether the given Parameter is comparable to the current instance, i.e. whether the Class, the DataType, the name and the comment are identical. If necessary, all these characteristics are checked recursively. In other words, the method returns true if the parameters only differ in their specific raw values.

Parameters:

p - the Parameter for the comparison

Returns:

true if the parameters only differ in their values, otherwise false

See Also:

Object.getClass(), AnnotatedEntity.getDatatype(), AnnotatedEntity.getName(), AnnotatedEntity.getComment(), DataType.PARAMETERSET, ParameterSet.isComparable(ParameterSet)