Inconsistencies in Convert implementation

[<dav...@di...>]

I'm mid-fixing the implementation of the Convert interface and I've noticed a number of inconsistencies in how we handle various things and am wondering whether they ought not be brought in line.


1)      When calling convert.getString() on a floating point PVScalars, i.e. PVFloat, PVDouble, you generally get something like "float 256.34" or  " Double 1.348E25", with varying precision and uppercase "E", but for floating point PVScalarArrays, i.e. PVFloatArray, you get something like "float []  [256.340]" or "double[]   [1.34800e25]", with fixed precision and lowercase "e". Since the AbstractPVField (and all its subclasses) use this function to implement toString() this affects how these PVs are displayed in general. The reason is that for arrays the floating point values are converted using the String.format function before being added to the StringBuilder. Is there any reason for this difference? Should they be brought in line and if so in which direction. In lieu of a good reason for them being different, I would say so they should be the same, but don't have strong opinion which way (no format, %g or even %G).

2)      If you attempt to use convert.copyScalar () to copy from a numeric type to a PVBoolean an exception is thrown. For the corresponding arrays convert.copyScalarArray() simply returns 0 (the number of elements copied), as it would if the length of the input or room in the target were 0. Wouldn't it be more consistent to throw an exception here too? The interface says it should. Unless anyone has a strong reason not to change this I'll bring the array implementation in line with the interface description and with the scalar implementation.

3)      The convert.toString()/fromString()  functions don't permit conversion between strings and numeric types (i.e. throw an exception), but such conversions are allowed by convert.copyScalar(). Is there a reason for this?

Let me know if you have a preference about any of these.

Dave.



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