/*=========================================================================

  Module:    vtkString.h

  Copyright (c) Kitware, Inc.
  All rights reserved.
  See Copyright.txt or http://www.kitware.com/Copyright.htm for details.

     This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
     the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
     PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notice for more information.

=========================================================================*/
// .NAME vtkString - performs common string operations
// .SECTION Description
// vtkString is a collection of methods to perform common string operations. 
// The strings in this case are not some reference counted objects but
// the traditional c-strings (char*). This class provides platform 
// independent methods for creating, copying, ... of strings.

#ifndef __vtkString_h
#define __vtkString_h

#include "vtkObject.h"
#include <time.h> // for time_t, until VTK provides a int64 

class VTK_EXPORT vtkString : public vtkObject
{
public:
  static vtkString *New();
  vtkTypeRevisionMacro(vtkString,vtkObject);

  // Description:
  // This method returns the size of string. If the string is empty,
  // it returns 0. It can handle null pointers.
  static vtkIdType Length(const char* str);

  // Description:
  // Copy string to the other string.
  static void Copy(char* dest, const char* src);

  // Description:
  // This method makes a duplicate of the string similar to C function
  // strdup but it uses new to create new string, so you can use
  // delete to remove it. It returns 0 if the input is empty.
  static char* Duplicate(const char* str);

  // Description: 
  // This method compare two strings. It is similar to strcmp, but it
  // can handle null pointers.
  static int Compare(const char* str1, const char* str2);

  // Description:
  // This method compare two strings. It is similar to Compare, but it
  // ignores case.
  static int CompareCase(const char* str1, const char* str2);

  // Description:
  // This method compare two strings. It is similar to strcmp, but it
  // can handle null pointers. Also it only returns C style true or
  // false versus compare which returns also which one is greater.
  static int Equals(const char* str1, const char* str2)
    { return vtkString::Compare(str1, str2) == 0; }

  // Description:
  // This method compare two strings. It is similar to Equals, but it
  // ignores case.
  static int EqualsCase(const char* str1, const char* str2)
    { return vtkString::CompareCase(str1, str2) == 0; }

  // Description:
  // Check if the first string starts with the second one.
  static int StartsWith(const char* str1, const char* str2);

  // Description:
  // Check if the first string ends with the second one.
  static int EndsWith(const char* str1, const char* str2);

  // Description:
  // Returns a pointer to the last occurence of str2 in str1.
  static const char* FindLastString(const char* str1, const char* str2);

  // Description:
  // Append two strings and prroduce new one.  Programmer must delete
  // the resulting string. The method returns 0 if inputs are empty or
  // if there was an error.
  static char* Append(const char* str1, const char* str2);
  static char* Append(const char* str1, const char* str2, const char* str3);
  
  // Description:
  // Transform the string to lowercase (inplace).
  // ToLowerFirst() will only lowercase the first letter of each word
  // Return a pointer to the string (i.e. 'str').
  static char* ToLower(char* str);
  static char* ToLowerFirst(char* str);

  // Description:
  // Transform the string to uppercase (inplace).
  // ToUpperFirst() will only uppercase the first letter of each word
  // Return a pointer to the string (i.e. 'str').
  static char* ToUpper(char* str);
  static char* ToUpperFirst(char* str);

  // Description:
  // Replace a character or some characters in the string (inplace).
  // Return a pointer to the string (i.e. 'str').
  static char* ReplaceChar(char* str, char toreplace, char replacement);
  static char* ReplaceChars(char* str, const char *toreplace,char replacement);

  // Description:
  // Remove some characters from a string.
  // Return a pointer to a new allocated string.
  static char* RemoveChars(const char* str, const char *toremove);

  // Description:
  // Remove all but some characters from a string.
  // RemoveAllButUpperHex remove all but 0->9, A->F
  // Return a pointer to a new allocated string.
  static char* RemoveAllButChars(const char* str, const char *tokeep);
  static char* RemoveAllButUpperHex(const char* str);

  // Description:
  // Return the number of occurence of a char.
  static unsigned int CountChar(const char* str, char c);

  // Description:
  // Fill 'str' with 'len' times 'c', add NULL terminator
  // Return 'str'.
  static char* FillString(char* str, char c, size_t len);

  // Description:
  // Crop string to a given length by removing chars in the center of the
  // string and replacing them with an ellipsis (...). This is done in-place.
  static char* CropString(char* str, size_t max_len);

  // Description:
  // Convert a string in __DATE__ or __TIMESTAMP__ format into a time_t.
  // return 0 on error, 1 on success
  //BTX
  static int ConvertDateMacroString(char *str, time_t *tmt);
  static int ConvertTimeStampMacroString(char *str, time_t *tmt);
  //ETX

protected:
  vtkString() {};
  ~vtkString() {};

private:
  vtkString(const vtkString&);  // Not implemented.
  void operator=(const vtkString&);  // Not implemented.
};

#endif



