JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.0

java.beans
Class Encoder

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--java.beans.Encoder
Direct Known Subclasses:
XMLEncoder

public class Encoder
extends Object

An Encoder is a class which can be used to create files or streams that encode the state of a collection of JavaBeans in terms of their public APIs. The Encoder, in conjunction with its persistence delegates, is responsible for breaking the object graph down into a series of Statementss and Expressions which can be used to create it. A subclass typically provides a syntax for these expressions using some human readable form - like Java source code or XML.

Since:
1.4

Constructor Summary
Encoder()
           
 
Method Summary
 Object get(Object oldInstance)
          Returns a tentative value for oldInstance in the environment created by this stream.
 ExceptionListener getExceptionListener()
          Gets the exception handler for this stream.
 PersistenceDelegate getPersistenceDelegate(Class type)
          Returns the persistence delegate for the given type.
 Object remove(Object oldInstance)
          Removes the entry for this instance, returning the old entry.
 void setExceptionListener(ExceptionListener exceptionListener)
          Sets the exception handler for this stream to exceptionListener.
 void setPersistenceDelegate(Class type, PersistenceDelegate persistenceDelegate)
          Sets the persistence delegate associated with this type to persistenceDelegate.
 void writeExpression(Expression oldExp)
          The implementation first checks to see if an expression with this value has already been written.
protected  void writeObject(Object o)
          Write the specified object to the output stream.
 void writeStatement(Statement oldStm)
          Writes statement oldStm to the stream.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

Encoder

public Encoder()
Method Detail

writeObject

protected void writeObject(Object o)
Write the specified object to the output stream. The serialized form will denote a series of expressions, the combined effect of which will create an equivalent object when the input stream is read. By default, the object is assumed to be a JavaBean with a nullary constructor, whose state is defined by the matching pairs of "setter" and "getter" methods returned by the Introspector.

Parameters:
o - The object to be written to the stream.
See Also:
XMLDecoder.readObject()

setExceptionListener

public void setExceptionListener(ExceptionListener exceptionListener)
Sets the exception handler for this stream to exceptionListener. The exception handler is notified when this stream catches recoverable exceptions.

Parameters:
exceptionListener - The exception handler for this stream.
See Also:
getExceptionListener()

getExceptionListener

public ExceptionListener getExceptionListener()
Gets the exception handler for this stream.

Returns:
The exception handler for this stream.
See Also:
setExceptionListener(java.beans.ExceptionListener)

getPersistenceDelegate

public PersistenceDelegate getPersistenceDelegate(Class type)
Returns the persistence delegate for the given type. The persistence delegate is calculated by applying the following of rules in order:

Parameters:
type - The type of the object.
Returns:
The persistence delegate for this type of object.
See Also:
setPersistenceDelegate(java.lang.Class, java.beans.PersistenceDelegate), Introspector.getBeanInfo(java.lang.Class), BeanInfo.getBeanDescriptor()

setPersistenceDelegate

public void setPersistenceDelegate(Class type,
                                   PersistenceDelegate persistenceDelegate)
Sets the persistence delegate associated with this type to persistenceDelegate.

Parameters:
type - The class of objects that persistenceDelegate applies to.
persistenceDelegate - The persistence delegate for instances of type.
See Also:
getPersistenceDelegate(java.lang.Class), Introspector.getBeanInfo(java.lang.Class), BeanInfo.getBeanDescriptor()

remove

public Object remove(Object oldInstance)
Removes the entry for this instance, returning the old entry.

Parameters:
oldInstance - The entry that should be removed.
Returns:
The entry that was removed.
See Also:
get(java.lang.Object)

get

public Object get(Object oldInstance)
Returns a tentative value for oldInstance in the environment created by this stream. A persistence delegate can use its mutatesTo method to determine whether this value may be initialized to form the equivalent object at the output or whether a new object must be instantiated afresh. If the stream has not yet seen this value, null is returned.

Parameters:
oldInstance - The instance to be looked up.
Returns:
The object, null if the object has not been seen before.

writeStatement

public void writeStatement(Statement oldStm)
Writes statement oldStm to the stream. The oldStm should be written entirely in terms of the callers environment, i.e. the target and all arguments should be part of the object graph being written. These expressions represent a series of "what happened" expressions which tell the output stream how to produce an object graph like the original.

The implementation of this method will produce a second expression to represent the same expression in an environment that will exist when the stream is read. This is achieved simply by calling writeObject on the target and all the arguments and building a new expression with the results.


writeExpression

public void writeExpression(Expression oldExp)
The implementation first checks to see if an expression with this value has already been written. If not, the expression is cloned, using the same procedure as writeStatement, and the value of this expression is reconciled with the value of the cloned expression by calling writeObject.

Parameters:
oldExp - The expression to be written to the stream.

JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.4.0

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

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