net.sf.plist

Class NSObject

java.lang.Object

net.sf.plist.NSObject

Direct Known Subclasses:

NSBoolean, NSCollection, NSData, NSDate, NSNumber, NSString, NSUID

public abstract class NSObject
extends java.lang.Object

Every Property List contains one or more NSObjects.

Every different extension holds a certain kind of value, for example the NSString holds a String and the NSDate holds a Date.

Some NSObjects can hold other NSObjects, thus making a tree.
Those are NSDictionary and NSArray.

The value of this object can be requested through the getValue() method.

The hashCode(), equals(Object) and toString() methods are overridden to use the respective functions of the value object.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
boolean	equals(java.lang.Object obj)
static NSObject	fromObject(java.lang.Object object) Convert a Object to NSObject.
abstract java.lang.Object	getValue() Get the unmodifiable value of this object.
int	hashCode()
abstract boolean	isTrue() Return whether or not the value evaluates to true.
java.lang.Boolean	toBoolean()
abstract byte[]	toBytes() Get the raw data of the value.
java.util.Date	toDate() Get the value as a date.
abstract double	toDouble() Return the value as a double.
int	toInteger() Return the value as an int.
java.util.List<? extends NSObject>	toList() Try to retrieve the list contained in this NSObject.
java.util.List<?>	toListObject() Convenience function to avoid casting.
abstract long	toLong() Return the value as a long.
java.util.SortedMap<java.lang.String,NSObject>	toMap() Try to retrieve the SortedMap contained in this NSObject.
java.util.SortedMap<java.lang.String,?>	toMapObject() Convenience function to avoid casting.
java.lang.Number	toNumber() Return the value as a number.
java.lang.Object	toObject() Converts this NSObject to a normal Java object.
java.io.ByteArrayInputStream	toStream() Get a ByteArrayInputStream in which encapsulates the result of toBytes().
java.lang.String	toString() Get the String representation of this objects value.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

getValue

public abstract java.lang.Object getValue()

Get the unmodifiable value of this object.

Returns:

the unmodifiable value of this object

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Overrides:

hashCode in class java.lang.Object

equals

public boolean equals(java.lang.Object obj)

Overrides:

equals in class java.lang.Object

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

Get the String representation of this objects value.

Overrides:

toString in class java.lang.Object

Returns:

the String representation for this object

See Also:

Object.toString()

toStream

public java.io.ByteArrayInputStream toStream()

Get a ByteArrayInputStream in which encapsulates the result of toBytes().

Returns:

the ByteArrayInputStream

toList

public java.util.List<? extends NSObject> toList()

Try to retrieve the list contained in this NSObject. This method will return the list if the object is a NSArray and will return a list containing all the values (but without the keys) if this object is a NSDictionary. Otherwise an empty list is returned.

Returns:

the list

isTrue

public abstract boolean isTrue()

Return whether or not the value evaluates to true.

A value returns to true if and only if

• it is the NSBoolean type NSBoolean.TRUE
• It is an NSString which has a length greater than zero and does not equal "NO" or "False" (case insensitive)
• It is an NSNumber greater than 0
• It is an NSCollection which contains more than zero elements
• It is an NSDate
• It is an NSData with a length greater than 0

Returns:

the value evaluates to true

toBoolean

public final java.lang.Boolean toBoolean()

See Also:

isTrue()

toBytes

public abstract byte[] toBytes()

Get the raw data of the value.

Returns:

the data

toDate

public java.util.Date toDate()

Get the value as a date. This will only work if this object is a NSDate, otherwise the current date is returned.

Returns:

the date or current date

toMap

public java.util.SortedMap<java.lang.String,NSObject> toMap()

Try to retrieve the SortedMap contained in this NSObject. This method will return the SortedMap if the object is a NSDictionary and will return a SortedMap containing incremental keys and all the values if this object is a NSArray. Otherwise an empty list is returned.

Returns:

the list

toObject

public java.lang.Object toObject()

Converts this NSObject to a normal Java object. The result of this method can be used as an argument in fromObject(Object) which will convert the object back to an NSObject. Note: This method will NOT convert NSUID objects, because there is no Java equivalent for those.

Returns:

a standard Java object

toMapObject

public final java.util.SortedMap<java.lang.String,?> toMapObject()

Convenience function to avoid casting. This method will convert this NSObject to a map, no matter what it was before. If this NSObject was not of the type NSCollection, the result may be an empty map.

Returns:

map created from this NSObject

toListObject

public final java.util.List<?> toListObject()

Convenience function to avoid casting. This method will convert this NSObject to a list, no matter what it was before. If this NSObject was not of the type NSCollection, the result may be an empty list.

Returns:

list created from this NSObject

toNumber

public java.lang.Number toNumber()

Return the value as a number. If this is not a NSNumber the number is derived from the value.

The number is derived in the following way

• For NSNumber: the actual number value
• For NSCollection: the amount of children
• For NSData: the length in bytes
• For NSBoolean: always byte; 0 for false, 1 for true
• For NSString: If the String is numeric, return the number in the string. Otherwise return 0^*

If you need to be sure about the result (e.g. you need to know if the result is user intended or a guess) you should do instanceof checks yourself.

^*This behaviour is exactly as the library works and even though one could argue that the method should return null instead of 0, the method returns 0 and will never return null. There are a couple reasons for this:

• The methods toLong() and toDouble() use toNumber();
  returning null would cause NullPointerExceptions.
• Just calling toNumber() on any NSObject is dirty anyway.
  If you want to be sure that your number is really a number, check if your NSObject is an NSNumber.
• If the implementation would fail on non-numeric Strings, the implementing programmer would need to check for these failures.
  By not failing explicitly, the programmer can still conduct some checks, but is not forced to do so if these checks are not important.

Returns:

the number

toLong

public abstract long toLong()

Return the value as a long. If this is not a NSInteger the long value is derived from the actual value.

Returns:

the long

toInteger

public final int toInteger()

Return the value as an int. This value is found by cutting bytes off from toLong().

Returns:

the int

toDouble

public abstract double toDouble()

Return the value as a double. If this is not a NSReal the double value is derived from the actual value.

Returns:

the double

fromObject

public static NSObject fromObject(java.lang.Object object)

Convert a Object to NSObject. This works for every object in lang.java which represents a primitive type, Strings, Lists and Maps

Parameters:

object - to convert to NSObject

Returns:

the NSObject

Throws:

java.io.InvalidObjectException - if the Object cannot be converted