InternationalString (GeoAPI normative 3.1-SNAPSHOT)

All Superinterfaces:

CharSequence, Comparable<InternationalString>
```
@UML(identifier="PT_FreeText",
     specification=ISO_19115)
public interface InternationalString
extends CharSequence, Comparable<InternationalString>
```
A string that has been internationalized into several locales. This interface is used as a replacement for the String type whenever an attribute needs to be internationalization capable.
The natural ordering is defined by the lexicographical ordering of strings in the default locale, as returned by toString(). This string also defines the character sequence for this object.

Since:

2.0

See Also:

NameFactory.createInternationalString(Map)

Departure from OGC/ISO specification:
This is called PT_FreeText in ISO 19115 standard, and can be applied to all metadata elements who's data type is CharacterString and domain is “free text”. GeoAPI uses the InternationalString name for historical reasons and for consistency with similar object in JSR-150 (Internationalization Service for J2EE).

- Method Summary
  
  Modifier and Type Method Description
  
  String toString()
  Returns this string in the default locale.
  
  String toString(Locale locale)
  Returns this string in the given locale.
  - Methods inherited from interface CharSequence
    charAt, chars, codePoints, length, subSequence
  - Methods inherited from interface Comparable
    compareTo

- Method Detail
  - toString
```
String toString(Locale locale)
```
    Returns this string in the given locale. If no string is available in the given locale, then some fallback locale is used. The fallback locale is implementation-dependent, and is not necessarily the same than the default locale used by the toString() method.
    
    Parameters:
    
    locale - the desired locale for the string to be returned.
    
    Returns:
    
    the string in the given locale if available, or in an implementation-dependent fallback locale otherwise.
    
    See Also:
    
    Locale.getDefault(), Locale.ROOT
  - toString
```
String toString()
```
    Returns this string in the default locale. The default locale is implementation-dependent. It may be the system default, the root locale or any other locale at implementation choice.
    All methods from CharSequence operate on this string. This string is also used as the criterion for natural ordering.
    
    Specified by:
    
    toString in interface CharSequence
    
    Overrides:
    
    toString in class Object
    
    Returns:
    
    the string in the default locale.