001    /*--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
002    $Id: ToStringComparator.java 26283 2010-02-18 11:18:57Z juergens $
003    |                                                                          |
004    | Copyright 2005-2010 Technische Universitaet Muenchen                     |
005    |                                                                          |
006    | Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");          |
007    | you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.         |
008    | You may obtain a copy of the License at                                  |
009    |                                                                          |
010    |    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0                            |
011    |                                                                          |
012    | Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software      |
013    | distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,        |
014    | WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. |
015    | See the License for the specific language governing permissions and      |
016    | limitations under the License.                                           |
017    +--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
018    package edu.tum.cs.commons.collections;
019    
020    import java.text.Collator;
021    import java.util.Comparator;
022    
023    /**
024     * This comparator compares objects by their toString() representation.
025     * 
026     * @author deissenb
027     * @author $Author: juergens $
028     * @version $Rev: 26283 $
029     * @levd.rating GREEN Hash: DEE51D79623A0DED83E2FE665BC1E279
030     */
031    public class ToStringComparator implements Comparator<Object> {
032    
033            /** Instance of this comparator. */
034            public static final ToStringComparator INSTANCE = new ToStringComparator();
035    
036            /** Collator used for comparing. */
037            private final Collator collator;
038    
039            /** Create new comparator based on the default locale's collator. */
040            public ToStringComparator() {
041                    collator = Collator.getInstance();
042            }
043    
044            /** Create new comparator with specific collator. */
045            public ToStringComparator(Collator collator) {
046                    this.collator = collator;
047            }
048    
049            /** Compare by toString() representation. */
050            public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
051                    return collator.compare(o1.toString(), o2.toString());
052            }
053    
054    }