org.jdesktop.swingx.autocomplete
Class ObjectToStringConverter

java.lang.Object
  org.jdesktop.swingx.autocomplete.ObjectToStringConverter

public abstract class ObjectToStringConverter
extends Object

This class is used to provide string representations for objects when doing automatic completion.

A class inherited from this class could be used, when the object's toString method is not appropriate for automatic completion.

An example for i18n:

 public class I18NStringConverter extends ObjectToStringConverter {
   ResourceBundle bundle;

   public I18NStringConverter(ResourceBundle bundle) {
     this.bundle = bundle;
   }

   public String getPreferredStringForItem(Object item) {
     return item==null ? null : bundle.getString(item.toString());
   }
 }
 

It's also possible to return more than one string representation. The following example shows a converter that will allow a user to choose an airport using either the airport's full description (toString()) or its ICAO/IATA code:

 public class AirportConverter extends ObjectToStringConverter {

   public String[] getPossibleStringsForItem(Object item) {
     if (item==null) return new String[0];
     if (!(item instanceof Airport)) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
     Airport airport = (Airport) item;
     return new String[]{airport.toString(), airport.icaoCode, airport.iataCode};
   }
       
   public String getPreferredStringForItem(Object item) {
     return item==null?null:getPossibleStringsForItem(item)[0];
   }
 }
 

Field Summary

static ObjectToStringConverter

DEFAULT_IMPLEMENTATION This field contains the default implementation, that returns item.toString() for any item !=null.

Constructor Summary

ObjectToStringConverter()

Method Summary

String[]	getPossibleStringsForItem(Object item) Returns all possible String representations for a given item.
abstract String	getPreferredStringForItem(Object item) Returns the preferred String representations for a given item.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Field Detail

DEFAULT_IMPLEMENTATION

public static final ObjectToStringConverter DEFAULT_IMPLEMENTATION

This field contains the default implementation, that returns item.toString() for any item !=null. For any item ==null, it returns null as well.

Constructor Detail

ObjectToStringConverter

public ObjectToStringConverter()

Method Detail

getPossibleStringsForItem

public String[] getPossibleStringsForItem(Object item)

Returns all possible String representations for a given item. The default implementation wraps the method getPreferredStringForItem. It returns an empty array, if the wrapped method returns null. Otherwise it returns a one dimensional array containing the wrapped method's return value.

Parameters:

item - the item to convert

Returns:

possible String representation for the given item.

getPreferredStringForItem

public abstract String getPreferredStringForItem(Object item)

Returns the preferred String representations for a given item.

Parameters:

item - the item to convert

Returns:

the preferred String representation for the given item.