Java 1.1 | cloneable serializable |
This abstract
class is the base class for all
number,
date, and string formatting classes in the
java.text package. It defines the key formatting
and parsing methods that are implemented by all subclasses.
format( ) converts
an object to a string using the formatting rules encapsulated by the
Format subclass and optionally appends the
resulting string to an existing StringBuffer.
parseObject( ) performs the reverse operation; it parses a
formatted string and returns the corresponding object. Status
information for these two operations is returned in
FieldPosition and ParsePosition
objects.
Java 1.4 defined a variant on the format( )
method. formatToCharacterIterator(
) performs the same formating operation as
format( ) but returns the result as an
AtttributedCharacterIterator which uses attributes
to identify the various parts (such the integer part, the decimal
separtator, and the fractional part of a formatted number) of the
formatted string. The attribute keys are all instances of the
Format.Field inner class. Each of the
Format subclasses define a
Field subclass that defines a set of
Field constants, (such as
NumberFormat.Field.DECIMAL_SEPARATOR) for use by
the character iterator returned by this method. See
ChoiceFormat, DateFormat,
MessageFormat, and NumberFormat
for subclasses that perform specific types of formatting.

public abstract class Format implements Cloneable, Serializable {
// Public Constructors
public Format( );
// Nested Types
1.4 public static class Field extends AttributedCharacterIterator.Attribute;
// Public Instance Methods
public final String format(Object obj);
public abstract StringBuffer format(Object obj, StringBuffer toAppendTo,
FieldPosition pos);
1.4 public AttributedCharacterIterator formatToCharacterIterator(Object obj);
public Object parseObject(String source) throws ParseException;
public abstract Object parseObject(String source, ParsePosition pos);
// Public Methods Overriding Object
public Object clone( );
}
Subclasses
DateFormat, MessageFormat,
NumberFormat
Passed To
MessageFormat.{setFormat( ),
setFormatByArgumentIndex( ), setFormats(
), setFormatsByArgumentIndex( )}
Returned By
MessageFormat.{getFormats( ),
getFormatsByArgumentIndex( )}
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