CollationKey objects
compare strings more quickly than is possible with
Collation.compare( ). Objects of this class are
returned by Collation.getCollationKey( ). To
compare two CollationKey objects, invoke the
compareTo( ) method of key A,
passing the key B as an argument (both
CollationKey objects must be created through the
same Collation object). The return value of this
method is less than zero if the key A is collated
before the key B, equal to zero if they are
equivalent for the purposes of collation, or greater than zero if the
key A is collated after the key
B. Use getSourceString( ) to
obtain the string represented by a CollationKey.
Figure 15-5. java.text.CollationKey
public final class
CollationKey implements Comparable<CollationKey> {
// No Constructor
// Public Instance Methods
public int
compareTo (CollationKey
target ); Implements:Comparable
public String
getSourceString ( );
public byte[ ]
toByteArray ( );
// Methods Implementing Comparable
public int
compareTo (CollationKey
target );
// Public Methods Overriding Object
public boolean
equals (Object
target );
public int
hashCode ( );
}