1 /*
2  * Copyright (c) 1997, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
3  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
4  *
5  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
6  * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
7  * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
8  * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
9  * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
10  *
11  * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
12  * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
13  * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
14  * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
15  * accompanied this code).
16  *
17  * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
18  * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
19  * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
20  *
21  * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
22  * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
23  * questions.
24  */
25 
26 /*
27  * (C) Copyright Taligent, Inc. 1996 - All Rights Reserved
28  * (C) Copyright IBM Corp. 1996 - All Rights Reserved
29  *
30  *   The original version of this source code and documentation is copyrighted
31  * and owned by Taligent, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IBM. These
32  * materials are provided under terms of a License Agreement between Taligent
33  * and Sun. This technology is protected by multiple US and International
34  * patents. This notice and attribution to Taligent may not be removed.
35  *   Taligent is a registered trademark of Taligent, Inc.
36  *
37  */
38 
39 package java.text;
40 
41 /**
42  * A <code>CollationKey</code> represents a <code>String</code> under the
43  * rules of a specific <code>Collator</code> object. Comparing two
44  * <code>CollationKey</code>s returns the relative order of the
45  * <code>String</code>s they represent. Using <code>CollationKey</code>s
46  * to compare <code>String</code>s is generally faster than using
47  * <code>Collator.compare</code>. Thus, when the <code>String</code>s
48  * must be compared multiple times, for example when sorting a list
49  * of <code>String</code>s. It's more efficient to use <code>CollationKey</code>s.
50  *
51  * <p>
52  * You can not create <code>CollationKey</code>s directly. Rather,
53  * generate them by calling <code>Collator.getCollationKey</code>.
54  * You can only compare <code>CollationKey</code>s generated from
55  * the same <code>Collator</code> object.
56  *
57  * <p>
58  * Generating a <code>CollationKey</code> for a <code>String</code>
59  * involves examining the entire <code>String</code>
60  * and converting it to series of bits that can be compared bitwise. This
61  * allows fast comparisons once the keys are generated. The cost of generating
62  * keys is recouped in faster comparisons when <code>String</code>s need
63  * to be compared many times. On the other hand, the result of a comparison
64  * is often determined by the first couple of characters of each <code>String</code>.
65  * <code>Collator.compare</code> examines only as many characters as it needs which
66  * allows it to be faster when doing single comparisons.
67  * <p>
68  * The following example shows how <code>CollationKey</code>s might be used
69  * to sort a list of <code>String</code>s.
70  * <blockquote>
71  * <pre>{@code
72  * // Create an array of CollationKeys for the Strings to be sorted.
73  * Collator myCollator = Collator.getInstance();
74  * CollationKey[] keys = new CollationKey[3];
75  * keys[0] = myCollator.getCollationKey("Tom");
76  * keys[1] = myCollator.getCollationKey("Dick");
77  * keys[2] = myCollator.getCollationKey("Harry");
78  * sort(keys);
79  *
80  * //...
81  *
82  * // Inside body of sort routine, compare keys this way
83  * if (keys[i].compareTo(keys[j]) > 0)
84  *    // swap keys[i] and keys[j]
85  *
86  * //...
87  *
88  * // Finally, when we've returned from sort.
89  * System.out.println(keys[0].getSourceString());
90  * System.out.println(keys[1].getSourceString());
91  * System.out.println(keys[2].getSourceString());
92  * }</pre>
93  * </blockquote>
94  *
95  * @see          Collator
96  * @see          RuleBasedCollator
97  * @author       Helena Shih
98  */
99 
100 public abstract class CollationKey implements Comparable<CollationKey> {
101     /**
102      * Compare this CollationKey to the target CollationKey. The collation rules of the
103      * Collator object which created these keys are applied. <strong>Note:</strong>
104      * CollationKeys created by different Collators can not be compared.
105      * @param target target CollationKey
106      * @return Returns an integer value. Value is less than zero if this is less
107      * than target, value is zero if this and target are equal and value is greater than
108      * zero if this is greater than target.
109      * @see java.text.Collator#compare
110      */
compareTo(CollationKey target)111     abstract public int compareTo(CollationKey target);
112 
113     /**
114      * Returns the String that this CollationKey represents.
115      *
116      * @return the source string of this CollationKey
117      */
getSourceString()118     public String getSourceString() {
119         return source;
120     }
121 
122 
123     /**
124      * Converts the CollationKey to a sequence of bits. If two CollationKeys
125      * could be legitimately compared, then one could compare the byte arrays
126      * for each of those keys to obtain the same result.  Byte arrays are
127      * organized most significant byte first.
128      *
129      * @return a byte array representation of the CollationKey
130      */
toByteArray()131     abstract public byte[] toByteArray();
132 
133 
134   /**
135    * CollationKey constructor.
136    *
137    * @param source the source string
138    * @exception NullPointerException if {@code source} is null
139    * @since 1.6
140    */
CollationKey(String source)141     protected CollationKey(String source) {
142         if (source==null){
143             throw new NullPointerException();
144         }
145         this.source = source;
146     }
147 
148     final private String source;
149 }
150