## org.apache.commons.configuration.tree
Class NodeCombiner

    java.lang.Object
      org.apache.commons.configuration.tree.NodeCombiner

Direct Known Subclasses:
  OverrideCombiner, UnionCombiner

    public abstract class NodeCombiner

extends Object

A base class for node combiner implementations.

A node combiner is an object that knows how two hierarchical node structures can be combined into a single one. Of course, there are many possible ways of implementing such a combination, e.g. constructing a union, an intersection, or an "override" structure (were nodes in the first hierarchy take precedence over nodes in the second hierarchy). This abstract base class only provides some helper methods and defines the common interface for node combiners. Concrete sub classes will implement the diverse combination algorithms.

For some concrete combiner implementations it is important to distinguish whether a node is a single node or whether it belongs to a list structure. Alone from the input structures, the combiner will not always be able to make this decision. So sometimes it may be necessary for the developer to configure the combiner and tell it, which nodes should be treated as list nodes. For this purpose the `addListNode()` method exists. It can be passed the name of a node, which should be considered a list node.

Since:
  1.3
Version:
  $Id: NodeCombiner.java 439648 2006-09-02 20:42:10Z oheger $
Author:
  Commons Configuration team

Field Summary
`protected Set` `listNodes` Stores a list with node names that are known to be list nodes.

Constructor Summary
`NodeCombiner()` Creates a new instance of `NodeCombiner`.

Method Summary
`void` `addListNode(String nodeName)` Adds the name of a node to the list of known list nodes.
`abstract ConfigurationNode` `combine(ConfigurationNode node1, ConfigurationNode node2)` Combines the hierarchies represented by the given root nodes.
`protected ViewNode` `createViewNode()` Creates a new view node.
`Set` `getListNodes()` Returns a set with the names of nodes that are known to be list nodes.
`boolean` `isListNode(ConfigurationNode node)` Checks if a node is a list node.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
`clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

Field Detail

### listNodes

    protected Set listNodes

  Stores a list with node names that are known to be list nodes.

Constructor Detail

### NodeCombiner

    public NodeCombiner()

  Creates a new instance of `NodeCombiner`.

Method Detail

### addListNode

    public void addListNode(String nodeName)

  Adds the name of a node to the list of known list nodes. This means that nodes with this name will never be combined.

  Parameters:
    `nodeName` - the name to be added

### getListNodes

    public Set getListNodes()

  Returns a set with the names of nodes that are known to be list nodes.

  Returns:
    a set with the names of list nodes

### isListNode

    public boolean isListNode(ConfigurationNode node)

  Checks if a node is a list node. This implementation tests if the given node name is contained in the set of known list nodes. Derived classes which use different criteria may overload this method.

  Parameters:
    `node` - the node to be tested
  Returns:
    a flag whether this is a list node

### combine

    public abstract ConfigurationNode combine(ConfigurationNode node1,
                                              ConfigurationNode node2)

  Combines the hierarchies represented by the given root nodes. This method must be defined in concrete sub classes with the implementation of a specific combination algorithm.

  Parameters:
    `node1` - the first root node
    `node2` - the second root node
  Returns:
    the resulting combined node structure

### createViewNode

    protected ViewNode createViewNode()

  Creates a new view node. This method will be called whenever a new view node is to be created. It can be overriden to create special view nodes. This base implementation returns a new instance of ``ViewNode``.

  Returns:
    the new view node

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