gov.nih.nlm.umls.meta
Class Language

java.lang.Object
  extended bygov.nih.nlm.umls.meta.AbstractExpandedForm
      extended bygov.nih.nlm.umls.meta.Language
All Implemented Interfaces:
Comparable, ExpandedForm

public final class Language
extends AbstractExpandedForm

Represents information about a language. This class ensures that each unique language is represented by a singleton object. In order for this to work correctly, the class must be properly initialized.

Author:
Brian Carlsen, Deborah Shapiro

Constructor Summary
Language()
          Instantiates an empty Language.
 
Method Summary
 String getAbbreviation()
          Returns the abbreviation.
 String getDescription()
          Returns the description
static Language getLanguage(String lat)
          Returns the Language for the specified abbreviation.
static Language[] getLanguages()
          Return all Languages.
static List getLanguagesAsList()
          Returns all Languages as a List.
static void initialize(List meta_dsc)
          Initializes the Map used to track all of the Languages that exist at one time.
static void initialize(MetaDescription[] meta_dsc)
          Initializes the Map used to track all of the Languages that exist at one time.
 
Methods inherited from class gov.nih.nlm.umls.meta.AbstractExpandedForm
compareTo, equals, hashCode, toString
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

Language

public Language()
Instantiates an empty Language.

Method Detail

initialize

public static void initialize(MetaDescription[] meta_dsc)
Initializes the Map used to track all of the Languages that exist at one time. You may pass all MetaDescriptions as this method only creates Languages for those with a type of "LAT".

Parameters:
meta_dsc - an array of MetaDescriptions

initialize

public static void initialize(List meta_dsc)
Initializes the Map used to track all of the Languages that exist at one time. This is implemented as a call to initialize(MetaDescription[]).

Parameters:
meta_dsc - an array of MetaDescriptions
Throws:
IllegalStateException - if an attempt is made to call this method more than once

getLanguage

public static Language getLanguage(String lat)
Returns the Language for the specified abbreviation. This method will return null if the initialize method has not been called or if the specified abbreviation was not one of those used during initialization.

Parameters:
lat - the language abbreviation to look up
Returns:
the Language for the specified abbreviation

getLanguages

public static Language[] getLanguages()
Return all Languages.

Returns:
an array of Language

getLanguagesAsList

public static List getLanguagesAsList()
Returns all Languages as a List.

Returns:
all Languages as a List

getAbbreviation

public String getAbbreviation()
Returns the abbreviation.

Returns:
the abbreviation

getDescription

public String getDescription()
Returns the description

Returns:
the description


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