Coding Style¶

Formatting Code¶

public class ClassA {

    private String letters[] = new String[]{"A", "B"};

    public int meth(String text, int number) {
        BinaryOperator plus = (a, b) -> {
            return a + b;
        };
        if (text != null) {
            try {
                meth("Some text", text.length());
            } catch (Throwable t) {
            } finally {
            }
        } else if (number >= 0) {
            text = number == 0 ? "empty" : "nonempty";
        }
        do {
            number = number + 1;
        } while (number < 2);
        for (int i = 1; i < 100; i++) {
            number = number + i;
        }
        while (number > 0) {
            number--;
        }
    }
}

Logging¶

We have adopted a pattern where the top of every class file has a line like this:

private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(DatasetUtil.class.getCanonicalName());

Use this logger field with varying levels such as fine or info like this:

logger.fine("will get thumbnail from dataset logo");

Generally speaking you should use fine for everything that you don’t want to show up by default in the app server’s log file. If you use a higher level such as info for common operations, you will probably hear complaints that your code is too “chatty” in the logs. These logging levels can be controlled at runtime both on your development machine and in production as explained in the Debugging section.

When adding logging, do not simply add System.out.println() lines because the logging level cannot be controlled.

Avoid Hard-Coding Strings (Use Constants)¶

Special strings should be defined as public constants. For example, DatasetFieldConstant.java contains a field for “title” and it’s used in many places in the code (try “Find Usages” in Netbeans). This is better than writing the string “title” in all those places.

Avoid Hard-Coding User-Facing Messaging in English¶

There is an ongoing effort to translate the Dataverse Software into various languages. Look for “lang” or “languages” in the Configuration section of the Installation Guide for details if you’d like to help or play around with this feature.

The translation effort is hampered if you hard code user-facing messages in English in the Java code. Put English strings in Bundle.properties and use BundleUtil to pull them out. This is especially important for messages that appear in the UI. We are aware that the API has many, many hard coded English strings in it. If you touch a method in the API and notice English strings, you are strongly encouraged to use that opportunity to move the English to Bundle.properties.

Type Safety¶

If you just downloaded Netbeans and are using the out-of-the-box settings, you should be in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, the default configuration of Netbeans doesn’t warn you about type-safety problems you may be inadvertently introducing into the code. To see these warnings, click Netbeans -> Preferences -> Editor -> Hints and check the following:

• “Raw Types” under “Standard Javac Warnings”

If you know of a way to easily share Netbeans configuration across a team, please get in touch.

Formatting Code¶