/*
 *    GeoTools - The Open Source Java GIS Toolkit
 *    http://geotools.org
 *
 *    (C) 2002-2008, Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
 *
 *    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 *    modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 *    License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
 *    version 2.1 of the License.
 *
 *    This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 *    Lesser General Public License for more details.
 */
package org.geotools.data.shapefile;

/**
 * 
 * @author Ian Schneider
 *
 * @source $URL$
 */
public class ShapefileUtilities {

    private ShapefileUtilities() {
    }

    /**
     * Marshal a given Object into the given Class.
     */
    public static Object forAttribute(final Object o, Class colType) {
        Object object;
        if (colType == Integer.class) {
            object = o;
        } else if ((colType == Short.class) || (colType == Byte.class)) {
            object = new Integer(((Number) o).intValue());
        } else if (colType == Double.class) {
            object = o;
        } else if (colType == Float.class) {
            object = new Double(((Number) o).doubleValue());
        } else if (Number.class.isAssignableFrom(colType)) {
            object = o;
        } else if (colType == String.class) {
            if (o == null) {
                object = o;
            } else {
                object = o.toString();
            }
        } else if (colType == Boolean.class) {
            object = o;
        } else if (java.util.Date.class.isAssignableFrom(colType)) {
            object = o;
        } else {
            if (colType != null) {
                throw new RuntimeException("Cannot convert "
                        + colType.getName());
            } else {
                throw new RuntimeException("Null Class for conversion");
            }
        }

        return object;
    }

}