A Parameter is an object which the ParameterDatabase class uses as a key to associate with strings, forming a key-value pair. Parameters are designed to be hierarchical in nature, consisting of "path items" separated by a path separator. Parameters are created either from a single path item, from an array of path items, or both. For example, a parameter with the path foo.bar.baz might be created from new Parameter(new String[] {"foo","bar","baz"})
Parameters are not mutable -- but once a parameter is created, path items may be pushed an popped from it, forming a new parameter. For example, if a parameter p consists of the path foo.bar.baz, p.pop() results in a new parameter whose path is foo.bar This pushing and popping isn't cheap, so be sparing.
Because this system internally uses "." as its path separator, you should not use that character in parts of the path that you provide; however if you need some other path separator, you can change the delimiter in the code trivially. In fact, you can create a new Parameter with a path foo.bar.baz simply by calling new Parameter("foo.bar.baz") but you'd better know what you're doing.
Additionally, parameters must not contain "#", "=", non-ascii values, or whitespace. Yes, a parameter path item may be empty. @author Sean Luke @version 1.0
| |