com.cafesoft.core.field
Interface FieldValuePattern

All Known Implementing Classes:

IntegerFieldValuePattern, StringFieldValuePattern

public interface FieldValuePattern

Defines an Object that is mechanism for specifying value patterns for field objects. For instance, a StringFieldValuePattern contains rules for matching String values.

Since:

7/30/03

Method Summary

String	getPattern() Get a String representation of the pattern.
boolean	matches(Object fieldValue) Check for a pattern match.
BigDecimal	score() Get the score of the FieldValuePattern.

Method Detail

matches

public boolean matches(Object fieldValue)

Check for a pattern match.

Returns:

true if this FieldValuePattern matches the specified field value else return false.

getPattern

public String getPattern()

Get a String representation of the pattern.

Returns:

a String representation of the pattern.

score

public BigDecimal score()

Get the score of the FieldValuePattern.

The FieldValuePattern's score is a value that determines how specific a particular a pattern is. It is a mechanism that allows the implementor to decided how specific a pattern is. For example, a concrete string value of "abcde" is much more specific than a string that contains a wildcard such as "abcd*". Therefore, this method allows for the calculation of that value.

Returns:

a BigDecimal object that contains this FieldValuePattern objects score.