/**

* The Item class is designed to be used by Swing components that use a

* renderer to display an Object. Swing renderers rely on the toString()

* implementation to display a description of an Object. Separating

* the value and description properties gives increased flexibilty.

*

* The "description" property is used by the renderer. The "value"

* property is used for processing by the application.

*/

public class Item<V> implements Comparable<Item>

{

private V value;

private String description;

/**

* Create an Item object

*

* @param value an Object containing data used by the application

* @param description the text to be displayed by a renderer

*/

public Item(V value, String description)

{

this.value = value;

this.description = description;

}

/**

* Get the Object containing application data

*

* @returns the application data

*/

public V getValue()

{

return value;

}

/**

* Get the description of the value data

*

* @returns the description to be displayed by a renderer

*/

public String getDescription()

{

return description;

}

/**

* Implement the natural order for this class using the

* Description property

*

* @param item the other Item object to be used in the comparison

*/

public int compareTo(Item item)

{

return getDescription().compareTo(item.getDescription());

}

/**

* The Value property will be used to check for equality

*/

@Override

public boolean equals(Object object)

{

Item item = (Item)object;

return (item == null) ? false : value.equals(item.getValue());

}

/**

* The Value property will be used to determine the hashCode

*/

@Override

public int hashCode()

{

return value.hashCode();

}

/**

* The Description property will double as the toString representation.

*

* @return the description

*/

@Override

public String toString()

{

return description;

}

}