com.jivesoftware.base.stats
Class Element

java.lang.Object
  com.jivesoftware.base.stats.Element

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.lang.Comparable

Direct Known Subclasses:

DateElement, InfiniteElement, LongElement, StringElement

public abstract class Element
extends java.lang.Object
implements java.lang.Comparable

Data values used to build reports are wrapped as elements. This wrapping servers a number of useful purposes:

• Element defines a method for converting data objects to Longs so we can perform numerical operations on elements when appropriate.
• Element defines a method for converting a long to an instance of an Element. This enables us to generate regularly spaced elements, for example, when appropriate.
• Element has an infinite set of possible values. The compareTo() method for all derived classes should indicate that the infinite element values are the largest and smallest possible values.
• Element knows how to display itself as a String.

Constructor Summary

Element()

Method Summary

abstract Element	getInstance(long n) Returns an instance of this class with an initial value of n.
abstract java.lang.Object	getValue() Returns the internal object we're wrapping.
java.lang.Long	toLong() Returns a Long representation of this element's value.
java.lang.String	toString() Returns a String representation of this element's value.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Methods inherited from interface java.lang.Comparable

compareTo

Constructor Detail

Element

public Element()

Method Detail

getValue

public abstract java.lang.Object getValue()

Returns the internal object we're wrapping.

Returns:

the internal object we're wrapping.

getInstance

public abstract Element getInstance(long n)

Returns an instance of this class with an initial value of n. This method will return null if it is not implemented.

Parameters:

n - a long this element should wrap.

Returns:

an Element wrapping a long.

toLong

public java.lang.Long toLong()

Returns a Long representation of this element's value. This method will return null if the conversion to a Long fails.

Returns:

the value of this element as a Long or null if the element can not be converted to a Long.

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

Returns a String representation of this element's value.

Overrides:

toString in class java.lang.Object

Returns:

a String representation of this element's value.