simplenlg.aggregation

Class Aggregator

java.lang.Object

simplenlg.framework.NLGModule

simplenlg.aggregation.Aggregator

public class Aggregator
extends NLGModule

An Aggregator performs aggregation on clauses, by applying a set of prespecified rules on them and returning the result.

Author:

Albert Gatt, University of Malya & University of Aberdeen

Field Summary

Fields inherited from class simplenlg.framework.NLGModule

lexicon

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
Aggregator() Creates an instance of Aggregator

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	addRule(AggregationRule rule) Add a rule to this aggregator.
List<AggregationRule>	getRules() Get the rules in this aggregator.
void	initialise() Performs one-time initialisation of the module.
List<NLGElement>	realise(List<NLGElement> elements) Apply aggregation to a list of elements.
NLGElement	realise(NLGElement element) Apply aggregation to a single phrase.
void	setFactory(NLGFactory factory) Set the factory that this aggregator should use to create phrases.

Methods inherited from class simplenlg.framework.NLGModule

getLexicon, setLexicon

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

Aggregator

public Aggregator()

Creates an instance of Aggregator

Method Detail

initialise

public void initialise()

Performs one-time initialisation of the module.

Specified by:

initialise in class NLGModule

setFactory

public void setFactory(NLGFactory factory)

Set the factory that this aggregator should use to create phrases. The factory will be passed on to all the component rules.

Parameters:

factory - the phrase factory

addRule

public void addRule(AggregationRule rule)

Add a rule to this aggregator. Aggregation rules are applied in the order in which they are supplied.

Parameters:

rule - the rule

getRules

public List<AggregationRule> getRules()

Get the rules in this aggregator.

Returns:

the rules

realise

public NLGElement realise(NLGElement element)

Apply aggregation to a single phrase. This will only work if the phrase is a coordinated phrase, whose children can be further aggregated.

Specified by:

realise in class NLGModule

Parameters:

element - the NLGElement to be realised.

Returns:

the NLGElement representing the realised state. This may be the initial element in a changed form or be a completely new element.

realise

public List<NLGElement> realise(List<NLGElement> elements)

Apply aggregation to a list of elements. This method iterates through the rules supplied via addRule(AggregationRule) and applies them to the elements.

Specified by:

realise in class NLGModule

Parameters:

elements - the list of elements to aggregate

Returns:

a list of the elements that remain after the aggregation rules have been applied