org.joda.property.type
Interface DataProperty

All Superinterfaces:

ModelElement, Property, java.io.Serializable

All Known Subinterfaces:

BooleanicProperty, BooleanPrimitiveProperty, BooleanProperty, ClassProperty, DateProperty, DateTimeProperty, DecimalProperty, DoublePrimitiveProperty, DoubleProperty, InstantProperty, IntegerPrimitiveProperty, IntegerProperty, LocaleProperty, LongPrimitiveProperty, LongProperty, NumericProperty, ObjectProperty, StringProperty, TimeProperty

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractBooleanicProperty, AbstractNumericProperty, DefaultBooleanPrimitiveProperty, DefaultBooleanProperty, DefaultClassProperty, DefaultDateProperty, DefaultDateTimeProperty, DefaultDecimalProperty, DefaultDoublePrimitiveProperty, DefaultDoubleProperty, DefaultIntegerPrimitiveProperty, DefaultIntegerProperty, DefaultLocaleProperty, DefaultLongPrimitiveProperty, DefaultLongProperty, DefaultObjectProperty, DefaultStringProperty, DefaultTimeProperty

public interface DataProperty

extends Property

A DataProperty is a property which can express all of its data in a single formalised String.

Author:

Stephen Colebourne

Nested Class Summary

Nested classes inherited from class org.joda.property.Property

Property.Internal

Method Summary

java.lang.String

toDataString() Get the property's value as a string.

Methods inherited from interface org.joda.property.Property

addPropertyChangeListener, bean, equals, equalsValue, firePropertyChange, getContentName, getContentType, getPropertyName, getPropertyType, hashCode, isModifiable, isNull, isReadOnly, removePropertyChangeListener, set, setModifiable, setReadOnly, toObject, toString

Methods inherited from interface org.joda.property.ModelElement

getAttribute, getAttributeCount, getAttributeMap, setAttribute

Method Detail

toDataString

public java.lang.String toDataString()

Get the property's value as a string. The String should consist of all the data of the property's value in a form that can be interpretted by the set(String) method. If toObject() returns null, then toDataString() should also return null.

This method has stronger semantics than an ordinary toString(). Where a and b are properties of the same type, it must be true that:
b.set( a.toDataString() ); a.equals(b);
In other words, the string contains all the data necessary to recreate the property's value.

Where possible, the string returned should be the same as that returned by calling toString() on the underlying object.

Returns:

a String representing the property's value