com.sas.collection
Class AssociationList

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--com.sas.Component
        |
        +--com.sas.collection.BaseCollection
              |
              +--com.sas.collection.AssociationList

All Implemented Interfaces:

AssociationListInterface, CollectionInterface, ComponentInterface, ContentsChangedSource, Countable, DeepClonable, DictionaryInterface, Enumerable, EventGateInterface, IndexedGetInterface, IndexedSetInterface, LinkPropertiesInterface, ModelInterface, MultipleValueEventSourceInterface, OrderedCollectionInterface, com.sas.beans.PropertyChangeSource, PublicClonable, Sortable, StaticCollectionInterface, StaticDictionaryInterface, StaticOrderedCollectionInterface, VetoableChangeSource, ViewInterface

Direct Known Subclasses:

ColorNameList, PersistedConnectionList, RGBList

public class AssociationList

extends BaseCollection

implements AssociationListInterface, DeepClonable

AssociationList is an implementation of AssociationListinterface, a collection which stores and retrieves values by either key or integer index. An AssociationList combines OrderedCollectionInterface and DictionaryInterface. It provides key/value pairs, but maintains an order to the data.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

protected OrderedCollectionInterface	items items is the ordered collection of data items.
protected OrderedCollectionInterface	keys keys is the ordered collection of keys.
static String	RB_KEY

Fields inherited from class com.sas.collection.BaseCollection

allContentsChangedListeners, mappingObject

Constructor Summary

AssociationList()
Default Constructor

AssociationList(Class orderedCollectionClass)
Constructor which allows you to choose of the type of collection to use for the internal implementation.

AssociationList(String data)
Constructs a new association list populated with elements parsed from a string.

Method Summary

void	add(int index, Object key, Object item) Add an item into this association list at the specified index.
void	add(Object item) Add an item to this association list.
void	add(Object item, int index) Insert an item into a specific location in this association list.
void	addItems(Enumeration newItems) Add all elements of an enumeration to this association list.
void	addItems(Enumeration enum, int index) Add all elements of an enumeration to this collection at the specified location.
void	apply(ApplyInterface action) Applies the action to every item in the current association list.
void	applyToPairs(ApplyInterface action) Applies the 'apply' function in the action to all key/value pairs in the collection.
Object	clone() Clone the object.
Object	clone(DeepCloneSupport support, boolean deeply) Clone this object using a deep copy.
boolean	contains(Object item) Test the existence of an object in this association list.
boolean	containsKey(Object key) Test the existence of an key in a association list.
int	count() Returns the number of items in this association list
int	count(Object value) Count the number of times the value exists in this association list.
int	countKey(Object key) Count the number of times the given key is used in this association list
void	dumpComponent() Prints attribute information about the class.
boolean	equals(AssociationListInterface otherAssociationList) Compare the current items with those in another AssociationList and tell whether the collections are identical.
boolean	equals(Object object) Compare to another object
boolean	equals(StaticOrderedCollectionInterface orderedCollection) Compare the current items with those in another collection and tell whether the collections are identical.
protected void	fireContentsChanged(ContentsChangedEvent event, boolean notifyItemsChanged, boolean notifyKeysChanged) Send a ContentsChangedEvent event to all the ContentsChangedListener objects in the listener list.
Object	get(int index) Fetch an item at a index.
Object	get(Object key) Fetch the item corresponding to a key.
Object	get(Object key, int index) Fetch the item corresponding to a key.
static ExtendedBeanInfo	getExtendedBeanInfo()
int	getIndex(Object element, int startIndex) Starting at startIndex, search forward for the first occurrence of item in this association list.
Enumeration	getItems() Return an enumeration of all the items
Enumeration	getItems(int start, int end) Return an enumeration of a range of items.
Object	getKey(int index) Get the key corresponding to a position
Object	getKey(Object item) Get the key corresponding to an item.
Object	getKey(Object item, int start) Get the item corresponding to an key Note that an association list may contain the same item via multiple keys.
Enumeration	getKeys() return an Enumeration of all the keys.
Enumeration	getKeys(Object item) Return an Enumeration of all the keys for a given item.
int	getLastIndex(Object element, int startIndex) Starting at startIndex, searche backwards towards item 0 and returns the index associated with the last occurence of the item in this association list.
Enumeration	getPairs() Returns an enumeration of all the key/value pairs from an association list.
Enumeration	getPairs(int start, int end) Returns an enumeration of the key/value item pairs from an association list
boolean	remove(Object item) Remove an item from this association list.
void	removeAll() remove all items from this association list
int	removeAll(Object item) Remove an item from this association list.
void	removeAllAt(Object key) Remove all items with the specified key.
Object	removeAt(int index) Remove from this association list the item at the specified index.
void	removeAt(Object key) Remove the item corresponding to the specified key.
void	removeAt(Object key, int start) Remove the item corresponding to the specified key.
void	set(int index, Object item) Replace the item at the specified index with a new item.
void	set(int index, Object key, Object item) Put an item into this association list, replacing a previous item that was there by the same key/index.
void	set(Object key, Object item) Put an item into this association list, possibly replacing a previous item that was there by the same key
void	setKey(int index, Object key) Set the key corresponding to a position
void	setSize(int newSize) Set the number of items that are being held in this association list.
void	sort(Comparator comparator) Sorts the items from the current collection using the provided comparison function.
void	sort(Comparator comparator, int start, int end) Sorts the current collection in place using the provided comparison function.
String	toString() Convert this association list to a single string.
String	toString(char delimiter, char separator, boolean alwaysQuote) Convert this association list to a single string.

Methods inherited from class com.sas.collection.BaseCollection

addContentsChangedListener, anyContentsChangedListeners, disableEvents, enableEvents, enableEvents, fireContentsChanged, map, removeContentsChangedListener, unmap

Methods inherited from class com.sas.Component

addLink, addPropertyChangeListener, addVetoableChangeListener, anyPropertyChangeListeners, attachModel, attachView, beansIsDesignTime, beansSetDesignTime, clone, detachModel, detachView, firePropertyChange, firePropertyChange, fireVetoableChange, getComponentDescription, getComponentSupportInfo, getEventMethod, getEventValues, getLinkInfo, getModelInterface, getRequiredInterfaces, getResources, getStringResource, getViewInterfaceSupportInfo, initialize, initializeComponent, isDesignTime, isLinked, propertyChange, queryLinks, queryLinks, refresh, removeAllLinks, removeInterfaceTraps, removeLink, removePropertyChangeListener, removeVetoableChangeListener, setComponentDescription, setComponentSupportInfo, setDefaultValues, setLinkInfo, setModelInterface, setRequiredInterfaces, setViewInterfaceSupportInfo, supportsListenerInterface, supportsRequiredInterfaces, trapInterfaceEvents, validateObject

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Methods inherited from interface com.sas.collection.ContentsChangedSource

addContentsChangedListener, removeContentsChangedListener

Methods inherited from interface com.sas.beans.PropertyChangeSource

addPropertyChangeListener, removePropertyChangeListener

Field Detail

RB_KEY

public static final String RB_KEY

items

protected OrderedCollectionInterface items

items is the ordered collection of data items.

keys

protected OrderedCollectionInterface keys

keys is the ordered collection of keys. The items and keys collections must be kept in sync and always have the same length.

Constructor Detail

AssociationList

public AssociationList()

Default Constructor

AssociationList

public AssociationList(Class orderedCollectionClass)

Constructor which allows you to choose of the type of collection to use for the internal implementation.

Parameters:

orderedCollectionClass - a class to instantiate to store the keys and items. This class must have a public no-arg constructor and must implement the com.sas.collection.OrderedCollectionInterface

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if an exception is caught trying to instantiate the orderedCollectionClass

AssociationList

public AssociationList(String data)

Constructs a new association list populated with elements parsed from a string.

Parameters:

data - a string of key=value pairs, separated by the delimiter returned from con.sas.util.Util.getListDelimiterChar(). Booleans and Numbers are recognized and parsed into appropriate java.lang.Boolean, java.lang.Integer, java.lang.Long, or java.lang.Double objects (for either the key or the value); everything else is parsed into a String or Character. For example, new AssociationList("A=1,two=2,3=true") results in an association list with three values. The keys are "A", "two", and the Integer 3, and the values are the Integer 1, the Integer 2, and Boolean.TRUE when the default delimiter returned from com.sas.util.Util.getListDelimiterChar() is a comma. Be sure to use the character returned from the com.sas.util.Util.getListDelimiterChar() method as the delimiter when forming the string to get parsed.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if the data string is invalid

See Also:

StringToDictionaryInterfaceTransform

Method Detail

getExtendedBeanInfo

public static ExtendedBeanInfo getExtendedBeanInfo()

fireContentsChanged

protected void fireContentsChanged(ContentsChangedEvent event,
                                   boolean notifyItemsChanged,
                                   boolean notifyKeysChanged)

Send a ContentsChangedEvent event to all the ContentsChangedListener objects in the listener list. The event is sent only to each item which is in the list at the time of this copy, even if adds or removes are performed after the send has started. Also fires a null-content propertyChange event.

Parameters:

event - the event to send

set

public void set(int index,
                Object key,
                Object item)

Put an item into this association list, replacing a previous item that was there by the same key/index.

Specified by:

set in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

index - where in the implicit order to set the item.

key - the key by which the item may be retrieved later.

item - the value to put into this association list

add

public void add(int index,
                Object key,
                Object item)

Add an item into this association list at the specified index. The item and key will be available via get(index) and getKey(index)

Specified by:

add in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

index - where in the implicit order to insert the item.

key - the key by which the item may be retrieved later.

item - the value to put into this association list

removeAllAt

public void removeAllAt(Object key)

Remove all items with the specified key.

Specified by:

removeAllAt in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

key - remove all items with this key.

removeAll

public int removeAll(Object item)

Remove an item from this association list. All occurrences of the item are removed.

Specified by:

removeAll in interface CollectionInterface

Parameters:

item - the item to remove

Returns:

the number of items removed

add

public void add(Object item)

Add an item to this association list. Since no key is given, the item is also used as the key to minimize conflicts with preexisting items.

Specified by:

add in interface CollectionInterface

Parameters:

item - an object to add to this association list

addItems

public void addItems(Enumeration newItems)

Add all elements of an enumeration to this association list. This will perform an add(item, item) for each element of the Enumeration.

Specified by:

addItems in interface CollectionInterface

Parameters:

newItems - an Enumeration of items to add to this association list

See Also:

CollectionInterface

apply

public void apply(ApplyInterface action)

Applies the action to every item in the current association list.

Specified by:

apply in interface StaticCollectionInterface

Overrides:

apply in class BaseCollection

Parameters:

action - An object that performs some action to another object. action.apply(pair) is excecuted on successive key/value pairs until all pairs in the this association list have been operated on, or until the method returns ApplyInterface.ABORT

removeAll

public void removeAll()

remove all items from this association list

Specified by:

removeAll in interface CollectionInterface

contains

public boolean contains(Object item)

Test the existence of an object in this association list. This only searches for the item in the values, not the keys.

Specified by:

contains in interface StaticCollectionInterface

Overrides:

contains in class BaseCollection

Parameters:

item - the item to search for

Returns:

true if and only the item exists as a value in this association list.

containsKey

public boolean containsKey(Object key)

Test the existence of an key in a association list. This only searches for the key in the keys, not the values.

Specified by:

containsKey in interface StaticDictionaryInterface

Parameters:

key - the key to search for

Returns:

true if and only an item with the specified key exists in this association list.

count

public int count()

Returns the number of items in this association list

Specified by:

count in interface Countable

Overrides:

count in class BaseCollection

Returns:

the number of items in this association list

count

public int count(Object value)

Count the number of times the value exists in this association list.

Parameters:

value - a value to count

Returns:

the number of times the value exists in this association list.

countKey

public int countKey(Object key)

Count the number of times the given key is used in this association list

Parameters:

key - the association list key to count

Returns:

the number of times the key appears in the list

dumpComponent

public void dumpComponent()

Prints attribute information about the class.

Overrides:

dumpComponent in class com.sas.Component

get

public Object get(int index)

Fetch an item at a index.

Specified by:

get in interface IndexedGetInterface

Parameters:

index - the position of the item, zero-based indexing.

Returns:

the item associated with the index value

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is not in the range [0, count()-1].

See Also:

get(java.lang.Object,int), get(java.lang.Object)

get

public Object get(Object key)

Fetch the item corresponding to a key.

Specified by:

get in interface StaticDictionaryInterface

Parameters:

key - the Object key with which the item was added to this association list

Returns:

the item in this association list which corresponds to the given key. This method returns the first item matching the key.

Throws:

NoSuchElementException - when there is no entry for the specified key. (Note that null is a valid value for a key.)

See Also:

get(java.lang.Object,int), get(int)

get

public Object get(Object key,
                  int index)

Fetch the item corresponding to a key.

Specified by:

get in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

key - the Object key with which the item was added to this association list

index - start searching for the key at this index

Returns:

the item in this association list which corresponds to the given key. There may be only one item per key.

Throws:

NoSuchElementException - when there is no entry for the specified key. (Note that null is a valid value for a key.)

See Also:

get(java.lang.Object), get(int)

getItems

public Enumeration getItems()

Return an enumeration of all the items

Specified by:

getItems in interface Enumerable

Overrides:

getItems in class BaseCollection

Returns:

java.util.Enumeration An enumeration of the elements stored in this association list (not the keys).

getItems

public Enumeration getItems(int start,
                            int end)

Return an enumeration of a range of items.

Specified by:

getItems in interface StaticOrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

start - the index of the first item in the range of items to get

end - get the items between start and (end-1)

Returns:

java.util.Enumeration An enumeration of the elements stored in this association list (not the keys).

getKey

public Object getKey(Object item)

Get the key corresponding to an item. Note that an association list may contain the same item via multiple keys. If so, this method returns one, but the interface does not specify which one (i.e. it does not have to be the first one entered in this association list, or the first one as found in the getItems() enumeration).

Specified by:

getKey in interface StaticDictionaryInterface

Parameters:

item - the item whose key you wish to find.

Returns:

the key for the item, or null if the item is not found.

Throws:

NoSuchElementException - if the item is not found

getKey

public Object getKey(Object item,
                     int start)

Get the item corresponding to an key Note that an association list may contain the same item via multiple keys. This method returns the first one as found at or after start

Specified by:

getKey in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

item - the item whose key you wish to find.

start - the index of where to start searching

Returns:

the key for the item, or null if the item is not found.

Throws:

NoSuchElementException - if the item is not found

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if if the index is invalid

getKey

public Object getKey(int index)

Get the key corresponding to a position

Specified by:

getKey in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

index - return the key corresponding to this index

Returns:

the key for the item, or null if the item is not found.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is not in the range [0, count()-1]

setKey

public void setKey(int index,
                   Object key)

Set the key corresponding to a position

Specified by:

setKey in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

index - replace the key at this index

key - the new key

Returns:

the key found at the specified index

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is not in the range [0, count()-1]

getKeys

public Enumeration getKeys(Object item)

Return an Enumeration of all the keys for a given item. The order is unspecified. If the item does not exist, the Enumeration will be non-null but not have any elements.

Specified by:

getKeys in interface StaticDictionaryInterface

Parameters:

item - the item to search for

Returns:

an Enumeration of keys corresponding to the item.

getKeys

public Enumeration getKeys()

return an Enumeration of all the keys. note that this enumeration may be "larger" than the enumeration of elements.

Specified by:

getKeys in interface StaticDictionaryInterface

Returns:

an Enumeration of all the keys

remove

public boolean remove(Object item)

Remove an item from this association list. If the item appears multiple times, only the first occurrence is removed.

Specified by:

remove in interface CollectionInterface

Parameters:

the - item to remove

Returns:

boolean True if item removed, false if not.

removeAt

public void removeAt(Object key,
                     int start)

Remove the item corresponding to the specified key.

Parameters:

key - remove the item which corresponds to this key

start - start index for finding the key.

removeAt

public void removeAt(Object key)

Remove the item corresponding to the specified key.

Specified by:

removeAt in interface DictionaryInterface

Parameters:

key - remove the item which corresponds to this key

getIndex

public int getIndex(Object element,
                    int startIndex)

Starting at startIndex, search forward for the first occurrence of item in this association list.

Specified by:

getIndex in interface StaticOrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

element - item to search for

startIndex - the position where the search should start

Returns:

the zero-based index corresponding to the first occurrence of item, or -1 if the item is not found.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if the index is not in the range [0..count()-1].

ClassCastException - In some implementations, the objects that are stored may be restricted to a particular type (such as String). (a RuntimeException)

getLastIndex

public int getLastIndex(Object element,
                        int startIndex)

Starting at startIndex, searche backwards towards item 0 and returns the index associated with the last occurence of the item in this association list.

Specified by:

getLastIndex in interface StaticOrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

element - item to search for

startIndex - the position where the search should start

Returns:

the zero-based index corresponding to the last occurrence of item or -1 if the item is not found.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if the index is not in the range [0..count()-1].

ClassCastException - In some implementations, the objects that are stored may be restricted to a particular type (such as String). (a RuntimeException)

set

public void set(Object key,
                Object item)

Put an item into this association list, possibly replacing a previous item that was there by the same key

Specified by:

set in interface DictionaryInterface

Parameters:

key - the key by which the item may be retrieved later.

item - the value to put into this association list

clone

public Object clone()
             throws CloneNotSupportedException

Clone the object.

Specified by:

clone in interface AssociationListInterface

Overrides:

clone in class BaseCollection

Returns:

a clone of this association list.

Throws:

CloneNotSupportedException - if the clone fails.

clone

public Object clone(DeepCloneSupport support,
                    boolean deeply)
             throws CloneNotSupportedException

Clone this object using a deep copy. With this method, this class implements DeepClonable This object and all the objects it contains are cloned, preserving the same structure.

Specified by:

clone in interface DeepClonable

Parameters:

support - a required object which keeps track of cloned objects during the deep cloning.

deeply - If true, clone recursively using the deep clone support. if false, this is equivalent to a normal clone.

equals

public boolean equals(StaticOrderedCollectionInterface orderedCollection)

Compare the current items with those in another collection and tell whether the collections are identical. If the orderedCollection is an AssociationListInterface, then return equals((AssociationListInterface) orderedCollection), else compare the ordered collection to this association lists' items.

Specified by:

equals in interface StaticOrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

orderedCollection - Another ordered collection to be compared to. May be null (returns false)

Returns:

true if the orderedCollection is an AssociationListInterface and the two association lists are equals, or if the orderedCollection equals the items of this association lists.

equals

public boolean equals(AssociationListInterface otherAssociationList)

Compare the current items with those in another AssociationList and tell whether the collections are identical.

Parameters:

otherAssociationList - Another AssociationList to be compared to. May be null (returns false)

Returns:

true if the keys and values are equal and in the same order, else false.

equals

public boolean equals(Object object)

Compare to another object

Overrides:

equals in class Object

Parameters:

object - another object

Returns:

if the other object is an AssociationListInterface, return equals((AssociationListInterface) other), else if the object is a StaticOrderedCollectionInterface, return equals((StaticOrderedCollectionInterface) object), else return false

add

public void add(Object item,
                int index)

Insert an item into a specific location in this association list.

Specified by:

add in interface OrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

item - the item to add to this association list. The item may exist multiple times in this association list.

index - Insert the object before the indexed item. The newly inserted item can be accessed by get(index) afterwards.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is not in the range [0, count()].

ClassCastException - In some implementations, the objects that are stored may be restricted to a particular type (such as String). (a RuntimeException)

addItems

public void addItems(Enumeration enum,
                     int index)

Add all elements of an enumeration to this collection at the specified location.

Specified by:

addItems in interface OrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

enum - an Enumeration of items to add to this association list

index - Insert the objects starting before the indexed item. The first of the newly inserted item can be accessed by get(index) afterwards.

Throws:

ClassCastException - In some implementations, the objects that are stored may be restricted to a particular type (such as String). (a RuntimeException)

removeAt

public Object removeAt(int index)

Remove from this association list the item at the specified index. The items after the deleted item are shifted backward to fill in the hole.

Specified by:

removeAt in interface OrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

index - the position of the item, zero-based indexing.

Returns:

the item that was removed from this association list

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is not in the range [0, count()-1].

set

public void set(int index,
                Object item)

Replace the item at the specified index with a new item.

Specified by:

set in interface OrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

index - The position where the Object will be placed.

item - The Object to be added to this association list.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is not in the range [0, count()-1].

ClassCastException - In some implementations, the objects that are stored may be restricted to a particular type (such as String). (a RuntimeException)

setSize

public void setSize(int newSize)

Set the number of items that are being held in this association list. If size is smaller than the current collection size, then this association list is truncated to the size specified. If size is greater than the current collection size, then this association list size is extended, and the new collection slots are set to contain null.

Specified by:

setSize in interface OrderedCollectionInterface

Parameters:

size - The new size of this association list

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if index is less than zero.

sort

public void sort(Comparator comparator)

Sorts the items from the current collection using the provided comparison function. The sort is performed in place.

Specified by:

sort in interface Sortable

Parameters:

comparator - An instance of a subclass of Comparator which provides a compare(Object,Object) function.

See Also:

Comparator

sort

public void sort(Comparator comparator,
                 int start,
                 int end)

Sorts the current collection in place using the provided comparison function.

Specified by:

sort in interface Sortable

Parameters:

comparator - A Comparator which provides a compare(Object,Object) method. The values passed to the comparator are Pair objects which contain the key and the value for a slot in this association list. The pair.getFirst() is the key; pair.getSecond() is the value, so your comparator must cast the Object parameter to a Pair and extract the key and value in order to make a comparison. Or, you can use a PairFirst or PairSecond object wrapped around a simpler comparator. Use a new PairFirst(comparator) object around your comparator if you want to sort by key only; just keys will be extracted from the two items and passed to your comparator. Use a PairSecond(comparator) object if you want to sort by value only; the values will be extracted from the two items and passed to your comparison.

start - the index of the first item in the range to sort

end - sort the items between start and (end-1)

See Also:

Pair, PairFirst, PairSecond

applyToPairs

public void applyToPairs(ApplyInterface action)

Applies the 'apply' function in the action to all key/value pairs in the collection. This is a general way to modify all the items in a collection.

Specified by:

applyToPairs in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

action - An object that provides a function which takes an object as an argument and then does something to it. The values passed to the Comparator function are Pair objects which contain the key and the value. In each returned Pair, the pair.getFirst() is the key; pair.getSecond() is the value. The application of the action continues until all items in the this association list have been operated on, or until a call to the action.apply(Object item) method returns ApplyInterface.ABORT

See Also:

Pair

getPairs

public Enumeration getPairs()

Returns an enumeration of all the key/value pairs from an association list.

Specified by:

getPairs in interface AssociationListInterface

Returns:

an enumeration of the requested elements; getItems(0, count())

getPairs

public Enumeration getPairs(int start,
                            int end)

Returns an enumeration of the key/value item pairs from an association list

Specified by:

getPairs in interface AssociationListInterface

Parameters:

start - the index of the first item, zero based.

end - one past the index of the last item to include in the enumeration, zero based. -1 indicates that the enumeration should return all remaining items, even if items are added/removed before the enumeration gets to them. (If you pass count() for the end parameter, the enumeration will save the end value and stop there, even if more items are added to this association list after the enumeration was created.)

Returns:

an enumeration of Pair objects of the requested elements. In each returned Pair, the pair.getFirst() is the key; pair.getSecond() is the value.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - if start is not in the range [0, count()-1], or start>last or end is not in the range [0, count()]

toString

public String toString()

Convert this association list to a single string.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

a string consisting of the quoted key=value pairs of this association list separated by commas.

toString

public String toString(char delimiter,
                       char separator,
                       boolean alwaysQuote)

Convert this association list to a single string.

Parameters:

delimiter - a delimiter for separating the items.

separator - a separator which appears between the keys and the values

alwaysQuote - if true, all items are quoted. If false, only quote items which require quotes (such as strings containing the delimiter character, or the '\' character, etc.)

Returns:

a string consisting of the optionally quoted elements of this association list separated by a delimiter.