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Interface Time

All Known Implementing Classes:

Date, Step, CalendarTime

public interface Time

extends Serializable

Interface used by implementations of the Timer interface.

So, it is possible for a timer to deal with different time formats.

Hooks:

Define Time Representation

Since:

v2.0

Version:

2.0 11/06/1999

Author:

Stephan Gambke

Method Summary

Object	getDefaultInterval() Get the default interval to be used by timers.
Object	getTime() Get the current time.
Comparable	getTimeStamp(long lStampNumber) Create and return a time stamp.
void	goAhead(Object oInterval) Increases the current time by the given interval.
void	setTime(Object oTime) Set the time.

Method Detail

setTime

public void setTime(Object oTime)
             throws IllegalArgumentException

Set the time.

Override:

Always.

Parameters:

oTime - the time to be set

getTime

public Object getTime()

Get the current time.

The returned object should have a useful toString() method, so that the time can be printed in a meaningful way.

Override:

Always.

Returns:

an object representing the current time.

goAhead

public void goAhead(Object oInterval)
             throws IllegalArgumentException

Increases the current time by the given interval.

Override:

Always.

Parameters:

oInterval - the interval

getDefaultInterval

public Object getDefaultInterval()

Get the default interval to be used by timers.

This method is required for calls of Timer.goAhead() before the Timer.setInterval() method was called.

Override:

Always.

Returns:

an object representing a valid interval for this Time object

getTimeStamp

public Comparable getTimeStamp(long lStampNumber)

Create and return a time stamp.

The returned time stamps have to be in a natural order that is identical to the order of creation. A good idea would be a String consisting of the time in a correctly sortable format followed by a value representing the stamp number in this time interval.

More formally two time stamps a and b must fulfil the following conditions:

• a.compareTo (b) < 0 iff a was obtained before b.
• a.compareTo (b) > 0 iff a was obtained after b.
• a.compareTo (b) == 0 iff a was obtained at the same time as b, i.e. iff a == b.

Override:

Always.

Parameters:

lStampNumber - the number of the stamp

Returns:

a time stamp that fulfills the above conditions.