public HSSFRichTextString() 
{
     
        this("");
}

 public HSSFRichTextString(String string) 
{
        if (string == null)
          string = "";
        this.string = new UnicodeString(string);
}

 HSSFRichTextString(Workbook book,
    LabelSSTRecord record) 
{
      setWorkbookReferences(book, record);
      this.string = book.getSSTString(record.getSSTIndex());
}

 public  void applyFont(HSSFFont font) 
{
        applyFont(0, string.getCharCount(), font);
}

Sets the font of the entire string.

 public  void applyFont(short fontIndex) 
{
        applyFont(0, string.getCharCount(), fontIndex);
}

Applies the specified font to the entire string.

 public  void applyFont(int startIndex,
    int endIndex,
    short fontIndex) 
{
        if (startIndex  > endIndex)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Start index must be less than end index.");
        if (startIndex <  0 || endIndex  > length())
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Start and end index not in range.");
        if (startIndex == endIndex)
            return;
        //Need to check what the font is currently, so we can reapply it after
        //the range is completed
        short currentFont = NO_FONT;
        if (endIndex != length()) {
          currentFont = this.getFontAtIndex(startIndex);
        }
        //Need to clear the current formatting between the startIndex and endIndex
        string = cloneStringIfRequired();
        Iterator formatting = string.formatIterator();
        if (formatting != null) {
          while (formatting.hasNext()) {
            UnicodeString.FormatRun r = (UnicodeString.FormatRun)formatting.next();
            if ((r.getCharacterPos()  >= startIndex) && (r.getCharacterPos() <  endIndex))
              formatting.remove();
          }
        }
        string.addFormatRun(new UnicodeString.FormatRun((short)startIndex, fontIndex));
        if (endIndex != length())
          string.addFormatRun(new UnicodeString.FormatRun((short)endIndex, currentFont));
        addToSSTIfRequired();
}

Applies a font to the specified characters of a string.

 public  void applyFont(int startIndex,
    int endIndex,
    HSSFFont font) 
{
        applyFont(startIndex, endIndex, font.getIndex());
}

Applies a font to the specified characters of a string.

 public  void clearFormatting() 
{
      string = cloneStringIfRequired();
      string.clearFormatting();
      addToSSTIfRequired();
}

Removes any formatting that may have been applied to the string.

 public int compareTo(Object o) 
{
       HSSFRichTextString r = (HSSFRichTextString)o;
       return string.compareTo(r.string);
}

Compares one rich text string to another.

 public boolean equals(Object o) 
{
      if (o instanceof HSSFRichTextString) {
        return string.equals(((HSSFRichTextString)o).string);
      }
      return false;
}

 public short getFontAtIndex(int index) 
{
      int size = string.getFormatRunCount();
      UnicodeString.FormatRun currentRun = null;
      for (int i=0;i< size;i++) {
        UnicodeString.FormatRun r = string.getFormatRun(i);
        if (r.getCharacterPos()  > index)
          break;
        else currentRun = r;
      }
      if (currentRun == null)
        return NO_FONT;
      else return currentRun.getFontIndex();
}

Returns the font in use at a particular index.

 public short getFontOfFormattingRun(int index) 
{
      UnicodeString.FormatRun r = string.getFormatRun(index);
      return r.getFontIndex();
}

Gets the font used in a particular formatting run.

 public int getIndexOfFormattingRun(int index) 
{
        UnicodeString.FormatRun r = string.getFormatRun(index);
        return r.getCharacterPos();
}

The index within the string to which the specified formatting run applies.

 public String getString() 
{
        return string.getString();
}

Returns the plain string representation.

 UnicodeString getUnicodeString() 
{
      return cloneStringIfRequired();
}

Used internally by the HSSFCell to get the internal string value

 public int length() 
{
        return string.getCharCount();
}

 public int numFormattingRuns() 
{
        return string.getFormatRunCount();
}

  void setUnicodeString(UnicodeString str) 
{
      this.string = str;
}

Used internally by the HSSFCell to set the internal string value

  void setWorkbookReferences(Workbook book,
    LabelSSTRecord record) 
{
      this.book = book;
      this.record = record;
}

This must be called to setup the internal work book references whenever a RichTextString is added to a cell

 public String toString() 
{
        return string.toString();
}