java.util
Class Dictionary

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--java.util.Dictionary

Direct Known Subclasses:

Hashtable

public abstract class Dictionary

extends Object

The Dictionary class is the abstract parent of any class, such as Hashtable, which maps keys to values. Every key and every value is an object. In any one Dictionary object, every key is associated with at most one value. Given a Dictionary and a key, the associated element can be looked up. Any non-null object can be used as a key and as a value.

As a rule, the equals method should be used by implementations of this class to decide if two keys are the same.

NOTE: This class is obsolete. New implementations should implement the Map interface, rather than extendidng this class.

Since:

JDK1.0

See Also:

Map, Object.equals(java.lang.Object), Object.hashCode(), Hashtable

Constructor Summary

Dictionary()
Sole constructor.

Method Summary

abstract Enumeration	elements() Returns an enumeration of the values in this dictionary.
abstract Object	get(Object key) Returns the value to which the key is mapped in this dictionary.
abstract boolean	isEmpty() Tests if this dictionary maps no keys to value.
abstract Enumeration	keys() Returns an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary.
abstract Object	put(Object key, Object value) Maps the specified key to the specified value in this dictionary.
abstract Object	remove(Object key) Removes the key (and its corresponding value) from this dictionary.
abstract int	size() Returns the number of entries (dinstint keys) in this dictionary.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

Dictionary

public Dictionary()

Sole constructor. (For invocation by subclass constructors, typically implicit.)

Method Detail

size

public abstract int size()

Returns the number of entries (dinstint keys) in this dictionary.

Returns:

the number of keys in this dictionary.

isEmpty

public abstract boolean isEmpty()

Tests if this dictionary maps no keys to value. The general contract for the isEmpty method is that the result is true if and only if this dictionary contains no entries.

Returns:

true if this dictionary maps no keys to values; false otherwise.

keys

public abstract Enumeration keys()

Returns an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary. The general contract for the keys method is that an Enumeration object is returned that will generate all the keys for which this dictionary contains entries.

Returns:

an enumeration of the keys in this dictionary.

See Also:

elements(), Enumeration

elements

public abstract Enumeration elements()

Returns an enumeration of the values in this dictionary. The general contract for the elements method is that an Enumeration is returned that will generate all the elements contained in entries in this dictionary.

Returns:

an enumeration of the values in this dictionary.

See Also:

keys(), Enumeration

get

public abstract Object get(Object key)

Returns the value to which the key is mapped in this dictionary. The general contract for the isEmpty method is that if this dictionary contains an entry for the specified key, the associated value is returned; otherwise, null is returned.

Parameters:

key - a key in this dictionary. null if the key is not mapped to any value in this dictionary.

Returns:

the value to which the key is mapped in this dictionary;

Throws:

NullPointerException - if the key is null.

See Also:

put(java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object)

put

public abstract Object put(Object key,
                           Object value)

Maps the specified key to the specified value in this dictionary. Neither the key nor the value can be null.

If this dictionary already contains an entry for the specified key, the value already in this dictionary for that key is returned, after modifying the entry to contain the new element.

If this dictionary does not already have an entry for the specified key, an entry is created for the specified key and value, and null is returned.

The value can be retrieved by calling the get method with a key that is equal to the original key.

Parameters:

key - the hashtable key.

value - the value.

Returns:

the previous value to which the key was mapped in this dictionary, or null if the key did not have a previous mapping.

Throws:

NullPointerException - if the key or value is null.

See Also:

Object.equals(java.lang.Object), get(java.lang.Object)

remove

public abstract Object remove(Object key)

Removes the key (and its corresponding value) from this dictionary. This method does nothing if the key is not in this dictionary.

Parameters:

key - the key that needs to be removed.

Returns:

the value to which the key had been mapped in this dictionary, or null if the key did not have a mapping.

Throws:

NullPointerException - if key is null.