Class Parameter
- java.lang.Object
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- com.martiansoftware.jsap.Parameter
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public abstract class Parameter extends java.lang.Object
Top-level abstraction of a parameter. A parameter consists of one or more arguments (command line tokens) that have a special meaning when taken together. For example, a command-line switch "-v" is a parameter consisting of a single argument, whereas a command-line option "--file somefile.txt" is a parameter consisting of two arguments. Some parameters can be quite large, such as an option for a file compression utility that allows you to specify any number of files to comporess.
This is an abstract class. See its subclasses
Switch
,FlaggedOption
, andUnflaggedOption
for details on the various types of parameters. Functionality common to all three types of Parameters is described below.Each parameter has a unique ID assigned in its constructor. This ID is used to retrieve values from the parser after the command line is parsed. You can set the ID to any String value you wish, although in general you'll want them to be brief and descriptive to provide a degree of documentation. A "-h" switch, for example, might have the ID "help". The calling program can then determine if the user specified the -h switch on the command line with the simple call
getBoolean("help")
against the JSAPResult object produced by JSAP.parse().- Author:
- Marty Lamb
- See Also:
Switch
,FlaggedOption
,UnflaggedOption
,JSAPResult.getBoolean(String)
,JSAP.parse(String[])
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Constructor Summary
Constructors Constructor Description Parameter(java.lang.String id)
Creates a new Parameter.
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Method Summary
All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Concrete Methods Deprecated Methods Modifier and Type Method Description void
addDefault(java.lang.String defaultValue)
Adds a single default value to any currently defined for this parameter.java.lang.String[]
getDefault()
Returns an array of default values for this parameter, or null if no default values have been defined.java.lang.String
getHelp()
Returns a description of the option's usage.java.lang.String
getID()
Returns this parameter's unique ID.abstract java.lang.String
getSyntax()
A convenience method for automatically generating syntax information based upon a JSAP configuration.java.lang.String
getUsage()
Deprecated.use getSyntax() insteadjava.lang.String
getUsageName()
Returns the name of this AbstractParameter for the purposes of usage information.Parameter
setHelp(java.lang.String help)
Sets the help text for this parameter.
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Method Detail
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getID
public java.lang.String getID()
Returns this parameter's unique ID.- Returns:
- this parameter's unique ID.
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addDefault
public final void addDefault(java.lang.String defaultValue)
Adds a single default value to any currently defined for this parameter.- Parameters:
defaultValue
- the default value to add to this parameter.
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getUsageName
public final java.lang.String getUsageName()
Returns the name of this AbstractParameter for the purposes of usage information. The returned value is by default the id of this parameter, but can be overridden via setUsageName(String).- Returns:
- the name of this AbstractParameter for the purposes of usage information.
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getDefault
public final java.lang.String[] getDefault()
Returns an array of default values for this parameter, or null if no default values have been defined.- Returns:
- an array of default values for this parameter, or null if no default values have been defined.
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getSyntax
public abstract java.lang.String getSyntax()
A convenience method for automatically generating syntax information based upon a JSAP configuration. A call to JSAP.getSyntax() returns a String built by calling getSyntax() on every parameter registered to a JSAP in the order in which they were registered. This method does not provide a help description (see getHelp()), but rather the syntax for this parameter.- Returns:
- usage information for this parameter.
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getUsage
public final java.lang.String getUsage()
Deprecated.use getSyntax() insteadDeprecated - use getSyntax()- Returns:
- deprecated - use getSyntax()
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getHelp
public final java.lang.String getHelp()
Returns a description of the option's usage.- Returns:
- a textual description of this option's usage
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setHelp
public final Parameter setHelp(java.lang.String help)
Sets the help text for this parameter.- Parameters:
help
- the help text for this parameter.
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