# Class FeatureFormat

Object
Format
CompoundFormat<Object>
TabularFormat<Object>
FeatureFormat

All Implemented Interfaces:
  `Serializable`, `Cloneable`, `Localized`

public class FeatureFormat extends TabularFormat<Object>
Formats features or feature types in a tabular format. This format assumes a monospaced font and an encoding supporting drawing box characters (e.g. UTF-8).

## Example

A feature named “City” and containing 3 properties (“name”, “population” and “twin town”) may be formatted like below. The two first properties are attributes while the last property is an association to another feature.

       City
       ┌────────────┬─────────┬──────────────┬───────────┐
       │ Name       │ Type    │ Multiplicity │ Value     │
       ├────────────┼─────────┼──────────────┼───────────┤
       │ name       │ String  │ [1 … 1]      │ Paderborn │
       │ population │ Integer │ [1 … 1]      │ 143,174   │
       │ twin town  │ City    │ [0 … ∞]      │ Le Mans   │
       └────────────┴─────────┴──────────────┴───────────┘

## Limitations

- The current implementation can only format features — parsing is not yet implemented.
- `FeatureFormat`, like most `java​.text​.Format` subclasses, is not thread-safe.

Since:
  0.5
See Also:
  - Serialized Form

- ## Nested Class Summary

  Nested Classes
  Modifier and Type
  Class
  Description
  `static enum`
  `FeatureFormat​.Column`
  Identifies the columns to include in the table formatted by `FeatureFormat`.

  ### Nested classes/interfaces inherited from class Format

  `Format​.Field`

- ## Field Summary

  ### Fields inherited from class TabularFormat

  `beforeFill, columnSeparator, fillCharacter, lineSeparator, omitTrailingNulls`

- ## Constructor Summary

  Constructors
  Constructor
  Description
  `FeatureFormat()`
  Creates a new formatter for the default locale and timezone.
  `FeatureFormat(Locale locale, TimeZone timezone)`
  Creates a new formatter for the given locale and timezone.

- ## Method Summary

  Modifier and Type
  Method
  Description
  `FeatureFormat`
  `clone()`
  Returns a clone of this format.
  `void`
  `format(Object object, Appendable toAppendTo)`
  Formats the given object to the given stream of buffer.
  `Set<FeatureFormat​.Column>`
  `getAllowedColumns()`
  Returns all columns that may be shown in the tables to format.
  `Locale`
  `getLocale(Locale​.Category category)`
  Returns the locale for the given category.
  `final Class<Object>`
  `getValueType()`
  Returns the type of objects formatted by this class.
  `Object`
  `parse(CharSequence text, ParsePosition pos)`
  Not yet supported.
  `void`
  `setAllowedColumns(Set<FeatureFormat​.Column> inclusion)`
  Sets all columns that may be shown in the tables to format.

  ### Methods inherited from class TabularFormat

  `getColumnSeparatorMatcher, getColumnSeparatorPattern, getLineSeparator, setColumnSeparatorPattern, setLineSeparator`

  ### Methods inherited from class CompoundFormat

  `createFormat, format, getFormat, getLocale, getTemporalStyle, getTimeZone, parseObject, parseObject`

  ### Methods inherited from class Format

  `format, formatToCharacterIterator`

  ### Methods inherited from class Object

  `equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

- ## Constructor Details

  - ### FeatureFormat

    public FeatureFormat()
    Creates a new formatter for the default locale and timezone.

  - ### FeatureFormat

    public FeatureFormat(Locale locale, TimeZone timezone)
    Creates a new formatter for the given locale and timezone.
    Parameters:
      `locale` - the locale, or `null` for `Locale​.ROOT`.
      `timezone` - the timezone, or `null` for UTC.

- ## Method Details

  - ### getValueType

    public final Class<Object> getValueType()
    Returns the type of objects formatted by this class. This method has to return `Object​.class` since it is the only common parent to `Feature` and `FeatureType`.
    Specified by:
      `getValueType` in class `CompoundFormat<Object>`
    Returns:
      `Object​.class`

  - ### getLocale

    public Locale getLocale(Locale.Category category)
    Returns the locale for the given category.
    - `Locale​.Category​.FORMAT` specifies the locale to use for values.
    - `Locale​.Category​.DISPLAY` specifies the locale to use for labels.
    Overrides:
      `getLocale` in class `CompoundFormat<Object>`
    Parameters:
      `category` - the category for which a locale is desired.
    Returns:
      the locale for the given category (never `null`).

  - ### getAllowedColumns

    public Set<FeatureFormat.Column> getAllowedColumns()
    Returns all columns that may be shown in the tables to format. The columns included in the set may be shown, but not necessarily; some columns will still be omitted if they are completely empty. However, columns not included in the set are guaranteed to be omitted.
    Returns:
      all columns that may be shown in the tables to format.
    Since:
      0.8

  - ### setAllowedColumns

    public void setAllowedColumns(Set<FeatureFormat.Column> inclusion)
    Sets all columns that may be shown in the tables to format. Note that the columns specified to this method are not guaranteed to be shown; some columns will still be omitted if they are completely empty.
    Parameters:
      `inclusion` - all columns that may be shown in the tables to format.
    Since:
      0.8

  - ### format

    public void format(Object object, Appendable toAppendTo) throws IOException
    Formats the given object to the given stream of buffer. The object may be an instance of any of the following types:
    - `Feature`
    - `FeatureType`
    Specified by:
      `format` in class `CompoundFormat<Object>`
    Parameters:
      `object` - the object to format.
      `toAppendTo` - where to format the object.
    Throws:
      `IOException` - if an error occurred while writing to the given appendable.

  - ### parse

    public Object parse(CharSequence text, ParsePosition pos) throws ParseException
    Not yet supported.
    Specified by:
      `parse` in class `CompoundFormat<Object>`
    Parameters:
      `text` - the character sequence for the object to parse.
      `pos` - the position where to start the parsing. On return, the position where the parsing stopped or where an error occurred.
    Returns:
      currently never return.
    Throws:
      `ParseException` - currently always thrown.

  - ### clone

    public FeatureFormat clone()
    Returns a clone of this format.
    Overrides:
      `clone` in class `TabularFormat<Object>`
    Returns:
      a clone of this format.