public Attribute(String name,
    String value) 
{
        if ((name == null) || (name.length() == 0))
        {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                "Attribute name is null or empty");
        }
        if (value == null)
        {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Attribute value is null");
        }
        _name  = name;
        _value = value;
}

Constructor

Parameters:

name - the name of the Attribute, the left hand side of the '=' of an XML element's attribute.

value - the value of the Attribute, the right hand side of the '=' of an XML element's attribute.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - is thrown if name is null or empty, or if value is null.

exception: IllegalArgumentException - is thrown if name is null or empty, or if value is null.

 public String getName() 
{
        return _name;
}

Get the name of the Attribute.

 public String getValue() 
{
        return _value;
}

Get the value of the Attribute as a String.

 public boolean getValueAsBoolean() 
{
        boolean rvalue = false;
        if (_value.equalsIgnoreCase("t") || _value.equalsIgnoreCase("y")
                || _value.equalsIgnoreCase("yes")
                || _value.equalsIgnoreCase("true"))
        {
            rvalue = true;
        }
        else if (_value.equalsIgnoreCase("f") || _value.equalsIgnoreCase("n")
                 || _value.equalsIgnoreCase("no")
                 || _value.equalsIgnoreCase("false"))
        {
            rvalue = false;
        }
        else
        {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                "Value [" + _value + "] does not represent a boolean value");
        }
        return rvalue;
}

A convenience method to get the value of the attribute as a boolean. Understands these value strings in a case-insensitive fashion:
• t/f
• true/false
• y/n
• yes/no

 public int getValueAsInt() 
{
        return Integer.parseInt(_value);
}

A convenience method to get the value of the Attribute as an int.

 public long getValueAsLong() 
{
        return Long.parseLong(_value);
}

A convenience method to get the value of the Attribute as a long.

 public short getValueAsShort() 
{
        return Short.parseShort(_value);
}

A convenience method to get the value of the Attribute as a short.