I agree that reflection is not a good solution here, but does have useful
application in general (but it isn't needed here, so don't use it). Use a
singleton or a statically-initialized Map to look up the patterns based on
the state. Save yourself some time by putting Patterns in the map,
identified by the state represented as a String.
patternMap.add("AK", Pattern.compile("^[0-9]{1,7}$"));
Put the map in its own class (perhaps a singleton), so you would get
patterns from it with a call like one of these:
Pattern pattern = LicensePatterns.getInstance().getPattern(licenseState);
-or-
Pattern pattern = LicensePatterns.getPattern(licenseState);
Putting the patterns is a Properties file seems like a good idea, too. How
often do the patterns change? Perhaps you could add a refresh() method to
the singleton class to reload the patterns from the properties file if you
anticipate that they will change while the app is supposed to be running.
This is usually the case, but it is often overlooked when setting such
"constants".
-Max
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Jalenak" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 7:49 AM
Subject: [OT - Java] How can I do this in Java?
> OK - off topic, but Sun's java forum sucks, and there are an incredible
> number of Java guru's on this list, so I thought I'd throw this out here.
> (That and I am using this in a custom validation routine :-)) Any help
> would be GREATLY appreciated!
>
> Here's the scenario - I've got a series of static constants that represent
> Java regular expressions. These RE's are used to validate driver license
> formats for the 50 states + DC. The strings look like this:
>
> public static final String AK = "^[0-9]{1,7}$";
> public static final String AL = "^[0-9]{7}$";
> public static final String AR = "^[0-9]{8,9}$";
> public static final String AZ =
> "^[0-9ABDY][0-9]{8}$|^[A-Z][0-9]{3,6}$|^[A-Z]{2}[0-9]{3,5}$";
> public static final String CA = "^[A-Z][0-9]{4,7}$";
> public static final String CO =
> "^[A-Z][0-9]{1,6}$|^[A-Z]{2}[0-9]{1,6}$|^[0-9]{9}$";
> etc. etc. etc.
>
> On my form I have a drop-down box of states, and a field for the license
> number. In my custom validator routine, I pick up the value of the state,
> and build a string to represent the constant - i.e.
>
> private static boolean validateDriversLicenseNumber(String
> licenseState, String licenseNumber)
> {
> String licenseConstant = "Constants." + licenseState;
>
> I then want to use "licenseConstant" in a Pattern / Match:
>
> Pattern p = Pattern.compile(licenseConstant,
> Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
> Match m = p.matcher(licenseNumber);
> return (m.find());
> }
>
> Obviously the line "String licenseConstant = "Constants." + licenseState;"
> does not give me the value of Constant.<state name>; the question I have
is,
> is there a method (or something) that will allow me to build such a
string,
> and return the value (i.e. the regular expression)? Or is there a better
> way of doing this?
>
> TIA!
>
> Jerry Jalenak
> Web Publishing
> LabOne, Inc.
> 10101 Renner Blvd.
> Lenexa, KS 66219
> (913) 577-1496
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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