StringCaster.java

/**
 * 
 */
package com.trendrr.oss.casting;

import java.util.Date;

import com.trendrr.oss.IsoDateUtil;
import com.trendrr.oss.TypeCast;


/**
 * String caster.
 * 
 * will translate to a string.  Strings are trimed of whitespace, empty string is considered null.
 * 
 * 
 * @author Dustin Norlander
 * @created Nov 30, 2010
 * 
 */
public class StringCaster extends TypeCaster<String> {

	/* (non-Javadoc)
	 * @see com.trendrr.oss.casting.TypeCaster#cast(java.lang.Class, java.lang.Object)
	 */
	@Override
	protected String doCast(Class cls, Object obj) {
		Object val = obj;
		
		//check if its a string array 
		//we need to do this because all values from a 
		//Request.getParameterMap are of type string[]
		if (obj instanceof String[]) {
			String[] array = ((String[])obj);
			if (array.length == 1)
				return array[0];
			return null;
		} else if (obj instanceof byte[]) {
			try {
				val = new String((byte[])obj, "UTF-8");
			} catch (Exception x) {
				
			}
		} else if (obj instanceof Date) {
			return IsoDateUtil.getUTCTimestamp((Date)obj);
		}
		
		String str = val.toString().trim();
		if (str.isEmpty())
			return null;
		return str;
	}
}