ICT-4361 Homework 5a

Purpose

This exercise will familiarize you with using polymorphic containers and text processing in Java.

We will use the idea of “form letter processing” to convey these ideas.

Form letters are a way of combining a form letter template (text and placeholders for substitution) with a data collection (say, names and addresses) and some computed variables (such as the date) to create a useful result (say, a personalized business letter).

As you can see from the class diagram, a FormLetter is a concrete class derived from the abstract class FormLetterTemplate. Each instance of FormLetter can be used to create one new form letter per Properties object.

The FormLetterTemplate class has four public methods (other than constructors). Two build the form letter, and two are used for producing output.

• addDataItemEntry is used to add one DataItemEntry to the form letter
• addTextEntry is used to add one TextEntry to the form letter
• printFormLetterTemplate outputs the form letter template itself to the provided output stream. This method will show the placeholders.
• doFormLetter creates and outputs a form letter, using the Properties object to provide values for all the placeholders.

In this exercise we will complete the classes for the form letter framework, and process a form letter to produce the appropriate results.

In the followup exercise for next week, the data collections and output will use files rather than internal storage.

What to Hand In

Please hand in a listing for each program requested, formatted in an easy-to-read style.
Ensure your name, and the name of the file is available in a comment at the top of the file.
You do not need to submit files from the homework starter files that are unchanged.
Also, ensure that you have a sample of the output from the program.
If your program fails to compile, hand in your error listing as your output.
For electronic submission, “zip” your submission together into a single file, to ensure nothing is missing;
For each question asked, provide one or two sentences summarizing your answer. Please be both complete and succinct.

Problems

1. Create and Test a Form Letter
   1. Start with the homework starter files. These will give you a good framework for creating your FormLetterTemplate.
   2. Examine the FormLetterEntry abstract class, and create the two derived classes TextEntry and DataItemEntry. Be sure to begin to implement (or let your IDE do it) all the abstract methods in each derived class.
   3. Add fields and methods to the FormLetter class. These should include a container for FormLetterEntrys, appropriate constructors for FormLetter, and the methods outlined in the class starter.
   4. Compile and run the FormLetterHello program. When you have implemented the above, it should compile and run.
   5. Capture the output of your test run for your submission.
   6. Create a new class called MyFormLetter, which represents another example of a form letter. It must contain at least one TextEntry and at least one DataItemEntry. This letter should be different than FormLetterHello, and use different Property entries. Compile it, run it, and same the output of your test run for your submission.
   7. Optional: Run the JUnit tests and make them all pass (this might take minor changes to your classes).
      You will need to ensure the JUnit libraries are on your classpath.
      If you submit this optional part, be sure to capture the output showing the JUnit tests passed and include with your submission.
2. Question: Describe why these files will not compile as they are. Be specific, and display some confirmation for your description. The answer may be stored in a text file, or incorporated as comments in your code.

Notes

• You can put the sample classes into your NetBeans environment by putting all the files except FormLetterTest.java into the source directory, and this remaining file into the test directory. Similar instructions for Eclipse. Or, you can also simply use ant with the provided build.xml file.
• While you could create the TextEntry and DataItemEntry at the bottom of the FormLetterEntry.java, please instead create them as separate, public classes.
• Note that while doing input and output in the DataItemEntry, TextEntry, and FormLetter code, you should always use the out instance passed in as a parameter, rather than coding System.out into these methods. This will ensure that all your output happens properly, and jUnit tests will succeed.
  In a production scenario, output from doFormLetter would go to a mass mailer, or printer, or such device.
• Note that the FormLetter class must store an ordered list of FormLetterEntrys. This is best handled by using one of the Collections classes in the java.util package. Various methods in your FormLetter class will iterate through the collection. For example, a List of FormLetterEntry would be a reasonable collection, instantiated by, say, a LinkedList or ArrayList of FormLetterEntry. Because your ordered list stores FormLetterEntry instances, it will be able to store TextEntry objects and DataItemEntry objects (through inheritance).
• Note that the Properties object can contain things that might change for each letter (e.g., name) as well as computable things (e.g., date).
• Your addTextEntry method creates a new TextEntry using the provided text and adds it to your list
• Your addDataItemEntry method creates a new DataItemEntry using the provided name and adds it to your list
• Your doFormLetter method should first go through each item on your list, and invoke its doProcess method, providing the Properties object it needs for substitution. Afterward, it should invoke formLetterString() to place the result on the provided output stream.
• FormLetterHello is the simplest test program using a FormLetter and this set of classes, so try running it first.
• You must also be sure not to add extra spaces when printing the templates or FormLetter, and finally when printing out the template, you must print out DataItemEntrys as <name>. That is, a less-than, the name of the data item, and then a greater-than.

Evaluation

Criteria	Weight
Answer for the question, including justification	10%
TextEntry derived class and test	20%
DataItemEntry derived class and test	20%
FormLetter class completion	20%
FormLetterHello test program and output	15%
MyFormLetter test program and output	15%
JUnit tests completed and output	+10%