avrora.util
Class ClassMap

java.lang.Object
  avrora.util.ClassMap

public class ClassMap

extends java.lang.Object

The ClassMap is a class that maps short names (i.e. short, lower case strings) to java classes and can instantiate them. This is useful for dynamic resolution of classes but with a small set of known defaults that have a short name. If the short name is not in the default set, this class will treat the short name as a fully qualified Java class name and load it. This class does the requisite checking--that the class exists, that it can be loaded, that it is of the appropriate type, that it can be instantiated, etc.

Field Summary

protected java.util.HashMap	classMap The classMap field is a hash map that maps a string to a Java class.
protected java.lang.Class	clazz The clazz field stores a reference to the Java class of which the objects stored in this map are instances of.
protected java.util.HashMap	objMap The objMap field is a hash map that maps a string to an instance of a particular class, i.e. an object.
protected java.lang.String	type The type field stores a string that represents the name of the "type" that this map contains.

Constructor Summary

ClassMap(java.lang.String t, java.lang.Class clz)
The constructor for the ClassMap class creates a new class map with the specified type, which maps strings to instances of the specified class.

Method Summary

void	addClass(java.lang.String alias, java.lang.Class clz) The addClass() method adds a short name (alias) for the specified class to the set of default class names.
void	addInstance(java.lang.String alias, java.lang.Object o) The addInstance() method adds a mapping between a short name (alias) and an object that is the instance of the class represented by that short name.
java.lang.Class	getClass(java.lang.String shortName) The getClass() method gets the Java class representing the class returned for a given short name.
java.util.Iterator	getIterator() The getIterator() method returns an interator over all of the key values (short names or aliases) of this class map.
java.lang.Object	getObjectOfClass(java.lang.String name) The getObjectOfClass() method looks up the string name of the class in the alias map first, and if not found, attempts to load the class using Class.forName() and instantiates one object.
java.util.List	getSortedList() The getSortedList() method returns a sorted list of the short names (aliases) stored in this class map.
java.util.Iterator	iterator() The iterator() method returns an interator over the short names (aliases) stored in this map.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Field Detail

type

protected final java.lang.String type

The type field stores a string that represents the name of the "type" that this map contains. For example, a class map for actions might be called "Action" and for input formats might be called "Input Format".

clazz

protected final java.lang.Class clazz

The clazz field stores a reference to the Java class of which the objects stored in this map are instances of.

classMap

protected final java.util.HashMap classMap

The classMap field is a hash map that maps a string to a Java class.

objMap

protected final java.util.HashMap objMap

The objMap field is a hash map that maps a string to an instance of a particular class, i.e. an object.

Constructor Detail

ClassMap

public ClassMap(java.lang.String t,
                java.lang.Class clz)

The constructor for the ClassMap class creates a new class map with the specified type, which maps strings to instances of the specified class.

Parameters:

t - the name of the type of this class as a string

clz - the class which objects should be instances of

Method Detail

addClass

public void addClass(java.lang.String alias,
                     java.lang.Class clz)

The addClass() method adds a short name (alias) for the specified class to the set of default class names.

Parameters:

alias - the string representation of the alias of the class

clz - the class to which the alias maps

addInstance

public void addInstance(java.lang.String alias,
                        java.lang.Object o)

The addInstance() method adds a mapping between a short name (alias) and an object that is the instance of the class represented by that short name.

Parameters:

alias - the alias for the instance

o - the actual object that will be returned from getObjectOfClass() when the parameters is equal to the alias.

getClass

public java.lang.Class getClass(java.lang.String shortName)

The getClass() method gets the Java class representing the class returned for a given short name. If there is no short name (alias) for the passed argument, this method will assume that the parameter is the fully qualified name of a class. It will then load that class and instantiate an instance of that class. That instance will be returned in subsequent calls to getObjectOfClass().

Parameters:

shortName - the short name of the class

Returns:

a Java class representing the class for that alias or fully qualified name

getObjectOfClass

public java.lang.Object getObjectOfClass(java.lang.String name)

The getObjectOfClass() method looks up the string name of the class in the alias map first, and if not found, attempts to load the class using Class.forName() and instantiates one object.

Parameters:

name - the name of the class or alias

Returns:

an instance of the specified class

Throws:

Avrora.Error - if there is a problem finding or instantiating the class

getSortedList

public java.util.List getSortedList()

The getSortedList() method returns a sorted list of the short names (aliases) stored in this class map.

Returns:

an alphabetically sorted list that contains all the aliases in this map

getIterator

public java.util.Iterator getIterator()

The getIterator() method returns an interator over all of the key values (short names or aliases) of this class map.

Returns:

an iterator over all the short names in this map

iterator

public java.util.Iterator iterator()

The iterator() method returns an interator over the short names (aliases) stored in this map.

Returns:

an instance of java.util.Iterator which can be used to iterate over each alias in this map.