How to use Preferences API to store program configurations?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment

The Preferences API provided in the java.util.prefs package can be used to store and retrieve application configurations. The main class is the Preferences class. Using this class you can manage the preference data such as storing, retrieving, removing and clearing the preference data.

Preferences are key-value pairs of data. You can store a string, int, boolean and other primitive data type. You can use the get() method to retrieve value associated with a key from preference node and the put() method to store a value associated with a key in the preference node. To remove a value associated with a key from preference node you can use the remove() method. And if you want to clear the keys from the preference node you can use the clear() method.

The actual storage of these preference data is dependent on the platform. For example in Windows OSes it stored in the Windows Registry. What you have to know that this Preferences API is not intended to use for storing application data, you will only use it to store configurations of your applications.

Let’s see an example of using the Preferences API.

package org.kodejava.util.prefs;

import java.util.prefs.BackingStoreException;
import java.util.prefs.Preferences;

public class PreferencesExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PreferencesExample demo = new PreferencesExample();
        demo.setPreferences();
    }

    private void setPreferences() {
        // Define a node to store the preference data.
        Preferences pref = Preferences.userRoot().node(getClass().getName());

        String key1 = "KEY1";
        String key2 = "KEY2";
        String key3 = "KEY3";

        // Read the value of KEY1, return an empty string if the value
        // hasn't been set previously.
        String key1Value = pref.get(key1, "");
        System.out.println("KEY1: " + key1Value);

        // Read the value of KEY2 as an integer, if the value hasn't
        // been set previously return -1.
        int key2Value = pref.getInt(key2, -1);
        System.out.println("KEY2: " + key2Value);

        // Read the value of KEY3, return true if no value was set
        // previously.
        boolean key3Value = pref.getBoolean(key3, true);
        System.out.println("KEY3: " + key3Value);

        // Set the values for all the preference key above.
        if (key1Value.equals("")) {
            pref.put(key1, "January");
        }
        if (key2Value == -1) {
            pref.putInt(key2, 1000);
        }
        if (key3Value) {
            pref.putBoolean(key3, false);
        }

        printKeys(pref);

        // Remove KEY1 from the preference data.
        pref.remove(key1);
        printKeys(pref);

        try {
            // Remove all preference data of this node.
            pref.clear();
        } catch (BackingStoreException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        printKeys(pref);
    }

    /**
     * Print Keys in the preference node.
     * @param pref Preference node.
     */
    private void printKeys(Preferences pref) {
        System.out.println("PreferencesExample.printKeys");
        try {
            String[] keys = pref.keys();
            for (String key : keys) {
                System.out.println("Key = " + key);
            }
        } catch (BackingStoreException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        System.out.println("============================");
    }
}

Here are the output you’ll get when running the example above:

KEY1: 
KEY2: -1
KEY3: true
PreferencesExample.printKeys
Key = KEY1
Key = KEY2
Key = KEY3
============================
PreferencesExample.printKeys
Key = KEY2
Key = KEY3
============================
PreferencesExample.printKeys
============================

How to get random key-value pair from Hashtable?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment 
package org.kodejava.example.util;

import java.util.Hashtable;
import java.util.Random;

public class HashtableGetRandom {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a hashtable and put some key-value pair.
        Hashtable<String, String> colors = new Hashtable<>();
        colors.put("black", "#000");
        colors.put("red", "#f00");
        colors.put("green", "#0f0");
        colors.put("blue", "#00f");
        colors.put("white", "#fff");

        // Get a random entry from the hashtable.
        String[] keys = colors.keySet().toArray(new String[colors.size()]);
        String key = keys[new Random().nextInt(keys.length)];
        System.out.println(key + " = " + colors.get(key));
    }
}

How do I clear the content of an array?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment

In this example you’ll learn how to clear or reset the content of an array. We can use the java.util.Arrays.fill() method to replace to content of each element in the array. In the example below we create two arrays, names and numbers array. We initialize these arrays with some values and then clear the value by assigning null to each element of the array using the Arrays.fill() method.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Arrays;

public class ArrayClear {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String[] names = {"Alice", "Bob", "Carol"};
        System.out.println("Names = " + Arrays.toString(names));

        // Replace the contents of the names array to null for each array
        // element.
        Arrays.fill(names, null);
        System.out.println("Names = " + Arrays.toString(names));

        Integer[] numbers = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
        System.out.println("Numbers = " + Arrays.toString(numbers));

        // Replace the contents of the numbers array to null for each
        // array element.
        Arrays.fill(numbers, null);
        System.out.println("Numbers = " + Arrays.toString(numbers));
    }
}

The output of the code snippet:

Names = [Alice, Bob, Carol]
Names = [null, null, null]
Numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Numbers = [null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null]

How do I validate input when using Scanner?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 13 Comments

This example show you how to validate input when using java.util.Scanner. To validate input the Scanner class provides some hasNextXXX() method that can be use to validate input. For example if we want to check whether the input is a valid integer we can use the hasNextInt() method.

In the code snippet below will demonstrate how to validate whether the user provide a positive integer number. The program will repeat until the correct input is supplied.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class ScannerValidateInput {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ScannerValidateInput demo = new ScannerValidateInput();
        demo.validatePositiveNumber();
    }

    private void validatePositiveNumber() {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

        int number;
        do {
            System.out.print("Please enter a positive number: ");
            while (!scanner.hasNextInt()) {
                String input = scanner.next();
                System.out.printf("\"%s\" is not a valid number.%n", input);
            }
            number = scanner.nextInt();
        } while (number < 0);

        System.out.printf("You have entered a positive number %d.%n", number);
    }
}

The output produce by the snippet:

Please enter a positive number: qwerty
"qwerty" is not a valid number.
@@@
"@@@" is not a valid number.
-100
Please enter a positive number: 99
You have entered a positive number 99.

Another example is to validate if user correctly input letters to guest a secret word. In the code snippet below if the user does not enter a letter the code will keep asking for a valid letter. It loops until the length of the inputted letters equals to the length of secret word.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class ScannerValidateLetter {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ScannerValidateLetter demo = new ScannerValidateLetter();
        demo.validateLetter();
    }

    private void validateLetter() {
        String secretWord = "Hello";
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

        int length = 0;
        StringBuilder guess = new StringBuilder();
        do {
            System.out.print("Enter a letter to guess: ");
            char letter = scanner.next().charAt(0);
            if (Character.isLetter(letter)) {
                guess.append(letter);
                length++;
            }
        } while (length < secretWord.length());

        if (secretWord.equalsIgnoreCase(guess.toString())) {
            System.out.println("You are correct!");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Please try again!");
        }
    }
}

Enter a letter to guess: 1
Enter a letter to guess: 2
Enter a letter to guess: H
Enter a letter to guess: e
Enter a letter to guess: l
Enter a letter to guess: l
Enter a letter to guess: o
You are correct!

How do I reverse the order of array elements?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment

In this code snippet you’ll learn how to reverse the order of array elements. To reverse to element order will be using the Collections.reverse() method. This method requires an argument with List type. Because of this we need to convert the array to a List type first. We can use the Arrays.asList() to do the conversion. And then we reverse it. To convert the List back to array we can use the Collection.toArray() method.

Let’s see the code snippet below:

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

public class ArrayReverse {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Creates an array of Integers and print it out.
        Integer[] numbers = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8};
        System.out.println("Arrays.toString(numbers) = " +
                Arrays.toString(numbers));

        // Convert the int arrays into a List.
        List<Integer> numberList = Arrays.asList(numbers);

        // Reverse the order of the List.
        Collections.reverse(numberList);

        // Convert the List back to array of Integers
        // and print it out.
        numberList.toArray(numbers);
        System.out.println("Arrays.toString(numbers) = " +
                Arrays.toString(numbers));
    }
}

The output of the code snippet above is:

Arrays.toString(numbers) = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Arrays.toString(numbers) = [8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0]

How do I get all available currency codes?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 2 Comments

The example presented in this code snippet show you how to get the available currency codes. We will need the locale information and use the Currency class for this example.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Currency;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.TreeMap;

public class CurrencySymbolDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        CurrencySymbolDemo cs = new CurrencySymbolDemo();

        Map<String, String> currencies = cs.getAvailableCurrencies();
        for (String country : currencies.keySet()) {
            String currencyCode = currencies.get(country);
            System.out.println(country + " => " + currencyCode);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Get the currencies code from the available locales information.
     *
     * @return a map of currencies code.
     */
    private Map<String, String> getAvailableCurrencies() {
        Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

        // We use TreeMap so that the order of the data in the map sorted
        // based on the country name.
        Map<String, String> currencies = new TreeMap<>();
        for (Locale locale : locales) {
            try {
                currencies.put(locale.getDisplayCountry(),
                        Currency.getInstance(locale).getCurrencyCode());
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // when the locale is not supported
            }
        }
        return currencies;
    }
}

You will have something like this printed on the screen:

...
Honduras => HNL
Hong Kong SAR China => HKD
Hungary => HUF
Iceland => ISK
India => INR
Indonesia => IDR
Iran => IRR
Iraq => IQD
Ireland => EUR
Isle of Man => GBP
...

How do I create a Locale object using a variant?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment

Font differences may force you to use different characters on different platforms. You could then define the Locale objects with the variant codes to identify those differences. The variant codes conform to no standard. They are arbitrary and specific to your application. If you create Locale objects with variant codes only your application will know how to deal with them.

In this example instead of demonstrating to use a different font for different platform we simplify it to just print a different message. We create three different resource bundles for each platform, the Birthday_fr_FR_UNIX.properties, Birthday_fr_FR_MAC.properties and Birthday_fr_FR_WIN.properties. These files will contains different message for each platform.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;

public class LocalePlatform {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ResourceBundle res;
        String language = "fr";
        String country = "FR";

        // Construct a locale from language, country, variant. Where the variant
        // can be a variant vendor and browser specific code.
        Locale unix = new Locale(language, country, "UNIX");
        res = ResourceBundle.getBundle("Birthday", unix);
        System.out.println("UNIX: " + res.getString("birthday"));

        Locale mac = new Locale(language, country, "MAC");
        res = ResourceBundle.getBundle("Birthday", mac);
        System.out.println("MAC : " + res.getString("birthday"));

        Locale windows = new Locale(language, country, "WIN");
        res = ResourceBundle.getBundle("Birthday", windows);
        System.out.println("WIN : " + res.getString("birthday"));
    }
}

Here are the contents of the resource bundle files:

Birthday_fr_FR_UNIX.properties

birthday=Unix, Joyeux anniversaire à vous!

Birthday_fr_FR_MAC.properties

birthday=Mac, Joyeux anniversaire à vous!

Birthday_fr_FR_WIN.properties

birthday=Windows, Joyeux anniversaire à vous!

How do I get all available Locale language codes?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment

When you want to internationalize your application, you need to know the language code and country code. These codes will be used as the properties file name (the file name must be ended in language_COUNTRY.properties). Here is an example that show how to get all supported language’s code.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Locale;

public class LocaleCountryLanguageCode {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Gets an array of all installed locales. The returned array represents
        // the union of locales supported by the Java runtime environment and by 
        // installed LocaleServiceProvider implementations.
        Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

        for (Locale locale : locales) {
            System.out.printf("Locale name: %s = %s_%s%n",
                    locale.getDisplayName(), locale.getLanguage(), locale.getCountry());
        }
    }
}

Here are some of the results produces by the code above:

...
Locale name: Kikuyu (Latin, Kenya) = ki_KE
Locale name: Spanish (Brazil) = es_BR
Locale name: Koyra Chiini (Mali) = khq_ML
Locale name: English (Solomon Islands) = en_SB
Locale name: Tibetan (Tibetan, China) = bo_CN
Locale name: Cherokee (United States) = chr_US
Locale name: Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) = rw_RW
Locale name: Tachelhit (Tifinagh, Morocco) = shi_MA
Locale name: Arabic (Iraq) = ar_IQ
Locale name: Nyankole = nyn_
...

How do I use the SortedMap interface?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment 
package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.*;

public class SortedMapDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SortedMap<String, String> sorted = new TreeMap<>();
        sorted.put("United States", "New York");
        sorted.put("United Kingdom", "London");
        sorted.put("Netherlands", "Amsterdam");
        sorted.put("Japan", "Tokyo");
        sorted.put("France", "Paris");

        // Gets the first(lowest) key currently in this map
        String firstKey = sorted.firstKey();

        // Gets the last (highest) key currently in this map
        String lastKey = sorted.lastKey();

        System.out.println("First key: " + firstKey);
        System.out.println("Last key : " + lastKey);

        // Gets a view of the portion of this map whose keys range
        // from fromKey(Japan), inclusive, to toKey(United Kingdom),
        // exclusive. (If fromKey and toKey are equal, the returned
        // map is empty.)
        SortedMap<String, String> sub = sorted.subMap("Japan",
                "United Kingdom");
        Set<String> subKeys = sub.keySet();
        System.out.println("\nSub Map: ");
        System.out.println("============");
        for (String key : subKeys) {
            System.out.println(key);
        }

        // Gets a view of the portion of this map whose keys are
        // strictly less than toKey(in this example is Netherlands)
        SortedMap<String, String> head = sorted.headMap("Netherlands");
        Set<String> headKeys = head.keySet();
        System.out.println("\nHead Map:");
        System.out.println("============");
        for (String key : headKeys) {
            System.out.println(key);
        }

        // Gets a view of the portion of this map whose keys are
        // strictly greater than or equal fromKey(in this example
        // is Netherlands)
        SortedMap<String, String> tail = sorted.tailMap("Netherlands");
        Set<String> tailKeys = tail.keySet();
        System.out.println("\nTail Map:");
        System.out.println("============");
        for (String key : tailKeys) {
            System.out.println(key);
        }
    }
}

Here is the output of the program:

First key: France
Last key : United States

Sub Map: 
============
Japan
Netherlands

Head Map:
============
France
Japan

Tail Map:
============
Netherlands
United Kingdom
United States

How do I convert a java.util.Vector into an array?

By Wayan in Core API, Util Package 0 Comment

This example demonstrates how to convert a Vector object into an array. You can use the Vector.copyInto(Object[] array) method to create a copy of the Vector object in array form.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Vector;

public class VectorToArray {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Vector<Integer> vector = new Vector<>();
        vector.add(10);
        vector.add(20);
        vector.add(30);
        vector.add(40);
        vector.add(50);

        // Declares and initializes an Integer array.
        Integer[] numbers = new Integer[vector.size()];

        // Copies the components of this vector into the specified
        // array of Integer
        vector.copyInto(numbers);

        for (Integer number : numbers) {
            System.out.println("Number: " + number);
        }
    }
}

The result of the code snippet above:

Number: 10
Number: 20
Number: 30
Number: 40
Number: 50