SimpleFIQL is a drastically simplified version of the Feed Item Query Language or short FIQL. Its main purpose is to validate a Search-Query against an object. This way you can filter out a few objects out of an massive array. Another great plus is that it can be used in the Query of an URL, integrating perfectly with RESTful APIs.
General syntax: <selector><operator><expression>[<connector><selector><operator><expression>[...]]
The selector is the field you want to validate.
If the object has the following structure:
| field | value |
|---|---|
| first_name | "Peter" |
| last_name | "Griffin" |
| birth_date | null |
| income | -1 |
And the selector would be "first_name", then you would ask for the value of the field "first_name".
Connector connect two selections with an AND or OR operator.
AND has always a higher priority.
( and ) allow you to manipulate the priority chain.
| connector | function |
|---|---|
| ; | AND |
| , | OR |
The data type is defined by the field.
| data type | description | Java |
|---|---|---|
| bool | can either be true or false |
java.lang.Boolean |
| string | text | java.lang.String |
| number | number... duh! | java.lang.Number (byte, short, int, long, float, double) |
| date | a date and/or time | java.util.Date |
All Java objects that are not these types will be converted to string with the value of toString().
An exception to this rule are Iteratables. An Iteratable will have multiple values.
The operator defines how to check the expression. Some operators can only be used by specific data types.
| operator | function | data types |
|---|---|---|
| == | equals | string, bool, number, date |
| != | not equals | string, bool, number, data |
| =#= | equals (ignore case) | string |
| !#= | not equals (ignore case) | string |
| >= | bigger or equals | number, date |
| <= | smaller or equals | number, date |
| > | bigger | number, date |
| < | smaller | number, date |
The expression defines how the value of the field has to be like and can have some operators of its own.
| operator | function | data types |
|---|---|---|
value|value |
seperates two values, if one fits, true is returned |
string |
| ? | wild card for a single character | string |
| * | wild card for an undefined number of characters | string |
[value] |
contains (has to be wrapped arround the value) | string |
value~value |
defines a range | number, date |
| character | escape sequence |
|---|---|
| \ | \\ |
| LINE BREAK | \n |
| TAB | \t |
| BACKSPACE | \b |
| RETURN | \r |
| ( | \( |
| ) | \) |
| ; | \; |
| , | \, |
| == | \== |
| != | \!= |
| <= | \<= |
| >= | \>= |
| < | \< |
| > | \> |
| =#= | \=#= |
| !#= | \!#= |
| ~ | \~ |
| | | \| |
| [ | \[ |
| ] | \] |
Let's say we have a massive array of persons and we want to filter all of them who's first name starts with the letter 'P'.
The person class looks like this:
public class Person {
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private Date birthDate;
private float income;
public Person(String firstName, String lastName, Date birthDate, float income) {
this.firstName = firstName;
this.lastName = lastName;
this.birthDate = birthDate;
this.income = income;
}
public String getFirstName() {
return this.firstName;
}
public String getLastName() {
return this.lastName;
}
public Date getBirthDate() {
return this.birthDate;
}
public float getIncome() {
return this.income;
}
}The first thing we have to do is to mark all the Getters which we want to use in SimpleFIQL.
public class Person {
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private Date birthDate;
private float income;
public Person(String firstName, String lastName, Date birthDate, float income) {
this.firstName = firstName;
this.lastName = lastName;
this.birthDate = birthDate;
this.income = income;
}
@FIQLValue("first_name")
public String getFirstName() {
return this.firstName;
}
@FIQLValue("last_name")
public String getLastName() {
return this.lastName;
}
@FIQLValue("birth_date")
public Date getBirthDate() {
return this.birthDate;
}
@FIQLValue("income")
public float getIncome() {
return this.income;
}
}Then we just have to create an empty list, iterate through the original array, validate the elements and add all positive elements to the created list.
List<Person> filtered = new ArrayList<>();
for(Person person : massiveArray) {
try {
if(FIQL.eval("first_name=#=P*", person)) {
filtered.add(person);
}
} catch(FIQLException exception) {
exception.printStackTrace();
}
}But we could also use a short version for this. It does exactly the same but in one line.
List<Person> filtered = FIQL.eval("first_name=#=P*", massiveArray);- Made the project modular for Java 9
- Added Unit-Tests
- Added Maven support
- Release
MIT License
Copyright (c) 2017 Ralph Niemitz
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