1. Introduction
jSettings is a Java frameworkk for working with external settings. It is intended to be
a powerful tool for the programmer of Java applications, allowing her easy access to
loading, modifying and saving program settings.
All the below characteristics can be subject to change in the future if there is enough interest
from my part or from the users' side. The following list presents the situation at the moment
of writting and is not meant to show the desired end state of the package.
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jSettings deals with already loaded settings (in the structures
provided by the package) and with external files of
ini and
fstab types - please see the next chapters for a further
discussion on what these mean. Support for xml files and for alternative
settings input (maybe console, streams etc)could be implemented in the future.
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External files can be read only from the file system.
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The package is written in Java 5.0 and backporting for previous versions is unlikely
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Available in English, but featuring i18n support.
As with the scope, the list of features is neither exhaustive nor immovable. Please let me know
if you feel something should be added.
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Powerful support for sections - settings can be organized in multi-level nested
sections
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Built-in support for default value for settings.
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Possibility of defining validation rules (as regex) for each setting.
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Settings only handled as
String.
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Settings can be read from external files either in ASCII format or several files
grouped in zip archives.
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Settings can be modified after they are loaded and these modifications
can be exported back to the files, even to those in zip archives.
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Lets the programmer and the user differentiate between system-wide and user-specific
settings.
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Extensive debugging messages, built with the standard Java
Logger
framework.
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Support for i18n.
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Support for commentaries in the settings files.
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Highly customizable interface - comment, section and grouping marks, asignation
characters, file extensions etc can be changed or new ones can be added to support
different programmer environments.
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Support for undoing modifications is under development
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A GUI is planned for future releases.
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