Class UCD

java.lang.Object
uk.ac.starlink.table.UCD
All Implemented Interfaces:
Comparable<UCD>
public class UCD extends Object implements Comparable<UCD>
Describes Uniform Column Descriptors. This class knows about all currently defined UCDs, the Unified Column Descriptors defined by the CDS. Each UCD has a unique ID by which it is known, and a description giving a brief explanation of what it means.

UCDs are obtained from the static getUCD(String) method; any two UCDs with the same ID are guaranteed to be the same object.

Source of information

The UCD ids and descriptions are read from a list at the resource UCD_DEFINITIONS_LOC. If this resource is unavailable at runtime, a warning will be written to the logging system. The original source of this text file was the CDS List of all UCDs.
Author:
Mark Taylor (Starlink)
See Also:

  • Field Details

  • Method Details

    • getID

      public String getID()
      Returns the ID string of this UCD.
      Returns:
      the ID string (capitals, underscores and numbers only)

    • getDescription

      public String getDescription()
      Returns the textual description of the UCD.
      Returns:
      a few words describing the meaning of this UCD

    • compareTo

      public int compareTo(UCD other)
      Implements the Comparable interface, comparing alphabetically by ID.
      Specified by:
      compareTo in interface Comparable<UCD>

    • getUCD

      public static UCD getUCD(String id)
      Returns the UCD object corresponding to a given UCD ID string. Returns null if no UCD with the given name is known.
      Parameters:
      id - the string used to identify the UCD (it will have surrounding spaces trimmed)
      Returns:
      the UCD object corresponding to id, or null if none can be found

    • getUCDs

      public static Iterator<UCD> getUCDs()
      Returns an iterator over all the known UCDs. The iterator returns the UCDs in their natural order (alphabetic by ID).
      Returns:
      an Iterator which iterates over all the existing UCD objects

    • toString

      public String toString()
      Returns the UCD id string.
      Overrides:
      toString in class Object
      Returns:
      a string representation of this UCD

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