org.apache.commons.beanutils
Class DynaProperty

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.commons.beanutils.DynaProperty

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

public class DynaProperty
extends Object
implements Serializable

The metadata describing an individual property of a DynaBean.

The meta contains an optional content type property (getContentType()) for use by mapped and iterated properties. A mapped or iterated property may choose to indicate the type it expects. The DynaBean implementation may choose to enforce this type on its entries. Alternatively, an implementatin may choose to ignore this property. All keys for maps must be of type String so no meta data is needed for map keys.

Version:

$Revision: 690380 $ $Date: 2008-08-29 21:04:38 +0100 (Fri, 29 Aug 2008) $

Author:

Craig R. McClanahan

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

protected Class	contentType The (optional) type of content elements for indexed DynaProperty
protected String	name Property name
protected Class	type Property type

Constructor Summary

DynaProperty(String name)
Construct a property that accepts any data type.

DynaProperty(String name, Class type)
Construct a property of the specified data type.

DynaProperty(String name, Class type, Class contentType)
Construct an indexed or mapped DynaProperty that supports (pseudo)-introspection of the content type.

Method Summary

boolean	equals(Object obj) Checks this instance against the specified Object for equality.
Class	getContentType() Gets the (optional) type of the indexed content for DynaProperty's that support this feature.
String	getName() Get the name of this property.
Class	getType() Gets the Java class representing the data type of the underlying property values.
int	hashCode()
boolean	isIndexed() Does this property represent an indexed value (ie an array or List)?
boolean	isMapped() Does this property represent a mapped value (ie a Map)?
String	toString() Return a String representation of this Object.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

name

protected String name

Property name

type

protected transient Class type

Property type

contentType

protected transient Class contentType

The (optional) type of content elements for indexed DynaProperty

Constructor Detail

DynaProperty

public DynaProperty(String name)

Construct a property that accepts any data type.

Parameters:

name - Name of the property being described

DynaProperty

public DynaProperty(String name,
                    Class type)

Construct a property of the specified data type.

Parameters:

name - Name of the property being described

type - Java class representing the property data type

DynaProperty

public DynaProperty(String name,
                    Class type,
                    Class contentType)

Construct an indexed or mapped DynaProperty that supports (pseudo)-introspection of the content type.

Parameters:

name - Name of the property being described

type - Java class representing the property data type

contentType - Class that all indexed or mapped elements are instances of

Method Detail

getName

public String getName()

Get the name of this property.

Returns:

the name of the property

getType

public Class getType()

Gets the Java class representing the data type of the underlying property values.

There are issues with serializing primitive class types on certain JVM versions (including java 1.3). Therefore, this field must not be serialized using the standard methods.

Please leave this field as transient

Returns:

the property type

getContentType

public Class getContentType()

Gets the (optional) type of the indexed content for DynaProperty's that support this feature.

There are issues with serializing primitive class types on certain JVM versions (including java 1.3). Therefore, this field must not be serialized using the standard methods.

Returns:

the Class for the content type if this is an indexed DynaProperty and this feature is supported. Otherwise null.

isIndexed

public boolean isIndexed()

Does this property represent an indexed value (ie an array or List)?

Returns:

true if the property is indexed (i.e. is a List or array), otherwise false

isMapped

public boolean isMapped()

Does this property represent a mapped value (ie a Map)?

Returns:

true if the property is a Map otherwise false

equals

public boolean equals(Object obj)

Checks this instance against the specified Object for equality. Overrides the default refererence test for equality provided by Object.equals(Object)

Overrides:

equals in class Object

Parameters:

obj - The object to compare to

Returns:

true if object is a dyna property with the same name type and content type, otherwise false

Since:

1.8.0

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

Returns:

the hashcode for this dyna property

Since:

1.8.0

See Also:

Object.hashCode()

toString

public String toString()

Return a String representation of this Object.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

a String representation of the dyna property