[stringtemplate-interest] question about toString and maps

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Hi,  I'm trying to create a file with data that mimicks what my Java  
objects produce, for testing with my templates "offline".

My templates take advantage of the reflection and the toString features.

Normally I wouldn't be able to reproduce the toString() output from a  
properties file, so I created  a special implementation of Map to  
produce the toString values.  But... ST doesn't call toString() on the  
map, it calls values().

Concrete example of my "online" processing:

template.setAttribute("locale", (java.util.Locale)locale);

$locale$   ->  en_US   because that's what locale.toString() returns
$locale.language$ -> en
$locale.country$ -> US

Now with a property file, using my special map implementation:

locale=en_US    this entry is meant to produce the same as  
locale.toString()
locale.language=en
locale.country=US

$locale$   ->  USen    because ST called values() on the map I created  
from the properties file
$locale.language$ -> en
$locale.country$ -> US

I tried using the _default_ key, like this:

locale._default_=en_US

But it's being ignored because the map is iterable...

I'd like to extend ASTExpr.rawGetObjectProperty() and  
convertAnything*ToIterator() to have an additional case for a map that  
is not iterable. I'm thinking it can implement a marker interface,  
like LabeledMap or NonIterator, so that any object that implements a  
Map can also choose to have this behavior of providing a label with  
toString() instead of having its values iterated wherever it appears  
solely by name in the template.  The template author can still write  
map.keys and map.values  to explicitly iterate the map so I think that  
would be ok.

Any comments on this?  Is there another way?  If this sounds ok, I'll   
need to do it right away in my project.   I could send a patch if  
you're interested in allowing this in the next version.


--
Jonathan Buhacoff
jonathan at buhacoff.net
--