simplenlg.framework

Class ListElement

java.lang.Object

simplenlg.framework.NLGElement

simplenlg.framework.ListElement

public class ListElement
extends NLGElement

ListElement is used to define elements that can be grouped together and treated in a similar manner. The list element itself adds no additional meaning to the realisation. For example, the syntax processor takes a phrase element and produces a list element containing inflected word elements. Phrase elements only have meaning within the syntax processing while the morphology processor (the next in the sequence) needs to work with inflected words. Using the list element helps to keep the inflected word elements together.

There is no sorting within the list element and components are added in the order they are given.

Version:

4.0

Author:

D. Westwater, University of Aberdeen.

Field Summary

Fields inherited from class simplenlg.framework.NLGElement

features

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
ListElement() Creates a new list element with no components.
ListElement(List<NLGElement> components) Creates a new list element containing the given components.
ListElement(NLGElement newComponent) Creates a new list element containing the given component.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	addComponent(NLGElement newComponent) Adds the given component to the list element.
void	addComponents(List<NLGElement> newComponents) Adds the given components to the list element.
List<NLGElement>	getChildren() Retrieves the children for this element.
NLGElement	getFirst() Retrieves the first component in the list.
String	printTree(String indent)
void	setComponents(List<NLGElement> newComponents) Replaces the current components in the list element with the given list.
int	size() Retrieves the number of components in this list element.
String	toString()

Methods inherited from class simplenlg.framework.NLGElement

clearAllFeatures, equals, equals, getAllFeatureNames, getAllFeatures, getCategory, getFactory, getFeature, getFeatureAsBoolean, getFeatureAsDouble, getFeatureAsElement, getFeatureAsElementList, getFeatureAsFloat, getFeatureAsInteger, getFeatureAsList, getFeatureAsLong, getFeatureAsString, getFeatureAsStringList, getParent, getRealisation, getTense, hasFeature, isA, isNegated, isPlural, removeFeature, setCategory, setFactory, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setNegated, setParent, setPlural, setRealisation, setTense

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Constructor Detail

ListElement

public ListElement()

Creates a new list element with no components.

ListElement

public ListElement(List<NLGElement> components)

Creates a new list element containing the given components.

Parameters:

components - the initial components for this list element.

ListElement

public ListElement(NLGElement newComponent)

Creates a new list element containing the given component.

Parameters:

newComponent - the initial component for this list element.

Method Detail

getChildren

public List<NLGElement> getChildren()

Description copied from class: NLGElement

Retrieves the children for this element. This method needs to be overridden for each specific type of element. Each type of element will have its own way of determining the child elements.

Specified by:

getChildren in class NLGElement

Returns:

a List of NLGElements representing the children of this element.

addComponent

public void addComponent(NLGElement newComponent)

Adds the given component to the list element.

Parameters:

newComponent - the NLGElement component to be added.

addComponents

public void addComponents(List<NLGElement> newComponents)

Adds the given components to the list element.

Parameters:

newComponents - a List of NLGElements to be added.

setComponents

public void setComponents(List<NLGElement> newComponents)

Replaces the current components in the list element with the given list.

Parameters:

newComponents - a List of NLGElements to be used as the components.

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class NLGElement

printTree

public String printTree(String indent)

Overrides:

printTree in class NLGElement

size

public int size()

Retrieves the number of components in this list element.

Returns:

the number of components.

getFirst

public NLGElement getFirst()

Retrieves the first component in the list.

Returns:

the NLGElement at the top of the list.