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Abstract Class Calendar in Java

Abstract Class Calendar in Java

Calendar class is an abstract class which provides several methods to perform date and time arithmetic. Calendar class also helps to convert dates and time to and from the millisecond format used by other Date class. The format can be minutes, hours, days, weeks, years. All these formats can be either consumable by humans or machines.

We can not directly instantiate Calendar class, it provides getInstance() method to get the default locale or default time zone or a specific locale or specific timezone.

The Calendar class is an abstract class that is used to convert between Date objects, which represent points in time, and calendar fields, like months or days of the week.

The date represents only a point in time, measured in milliseconds. A subclass of Calendar examines the Date in the context of a particular calendar system; a Calendar instance is a
locale-sensitive object. The java.text.DateFormat class generates and parses strings
representing points in time.

Calendar defines a number of symbolic constants. They represent either fields or values. For example, a MONTH is a field constant. It can be passed to get() and set() to retrieve and adjust the month. AUGUST, on the other hand, represents a particular month value. Calling get(Calendar.MONTH) could return Calendar.AUGUST.

Internally, Calendar keeps track of a point in time in two ways. First, a “raw” value is maintained, which is simply a count of milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970, GMT, or, in other words, a Date object. Second, the calendar keeps track of a number of fields, which are the values that are specific to the Calendar type. These are values such as day of the week, day of the month, and month. The raw millisecond value can be calculated from the
field values, or vice versa.

When a Date object is computed from the time fields, there may be insufficient information to compute the raw millisecond value. For example, the year and the month could be set, but not the day of the month. In this case, Calendar uses default information to fill in the missing fields. For GregorianCalendar, the default field values are taken from the date of the epoch, or midnight, January 1, 1970, GMT.

Another problem that can arise when computing a Date object from the time fields is that of inconsistent information in the fields. For example, the time fields could specify “Sunday, March 8, 1997” when in fact March 8, 1997, is a Saturday. If the time fields contain inconsistent information, Calendar gives preference to the combinations of fields in the following order:

  • month and day of the week
  • month, week of the month, and day of the week
  • month, day of the week in the month, and day of the week
  • day of the year
  • day of the week and week of the year
  • hour of the day
  • A.M./P.M. and hour of A.M./P.M.

There is also the possibility of ambiguity for certain points in time, so the following rules apply. The time 24:00:00 belongs to the next day and midnight is an A.M. time, while noon is a P.M. time.

The Structure of the Calendar class is given as:

public abstract class java.util.Calendar extends java.lang.Object implements java.io.Serializable, java.lang.Cloneable {
//Constructors
protected Calendar();
protected Calendar(TimeZone zone, Locale aLocale);
// Constants
public static final int FIELD_COUNT;
// Member elements -Date anf Time Field constants
public static final int ERA;
public static final int YEAR;
public static final int MONTH;
public static final int WEEK_OF_YEAR, WEEK_OF_MONTH;
public static final int DATE, DAY_OF_MONTH;
public static final int DAY_OF_YEAR, DAY_OF_WEEK, DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH;
public static final int ZONE_OFFSET, DST_OFFSET;
public static final int AM_PM;
public static final int HOUR, HOUR_OF_DAY;
public static final int MINUTE;
public static final int SECOND;
public static final int MILLISECOND;
public static final int JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL;
public static final int MAY, JUNE, JULY, AUGUST;
public static final int SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER;
public static final int UNDECIMBER;
public static final int SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY;
public static final int THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY;
public static final int AM, PM;
protected boolean areFieldsSet;
protected int[] fields;
protected boolean[] isSet;
protected boolean isTimeSet;
protected long time;
//Methods
public static synchronized Locale[] getAvailableLocales();
public static synchronized Calendar getInstance();
public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(TimeZone zone);
public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(Locale aLocale);
public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(TimeZone zone, Locale aLocale);
public abstract void add(int field, int amount);
public abstract boolean after(Object when);
public abstract boolean before(Object when);
public final void clear();
public final void clear(int field);
public Object clone(); // Overrides Object
public abstract boolean equals(Object when); 
public final int get(int field);
public int getFirstDayOfWeek();
public abstract int getGreatestMinimum(int field);
public abstract int getLeastMaximum(int field);
public abstract int getMaximum(int field);
public int getMinimalDaysInFirstWeek();
public abstract int getMinimum(int field);
public final Date getTime();
public TimeZone getTimeZone();
public boolean isLenient();
public final boolean isSet(int field);
public abstract void roll(int field, boolean up);
public final void set(int field, int value);
public final void set(int year, int month, int date);
public final void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute);
public final void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute, int second);
public void setFirstDayOfWeek(int value);
public void setLenient(boolean lenient);
public void setMinimalDaysInFirstWeek(int value);
public final void setTime(Date date);
public void setTimeZone(TimeZone value);
protected void complete();
protected abstract void computeFields();
protected abstract void computeTime();
protected long getTimeInMillis();
protected final int internalGet(int field);
protected void setTimeInMillis(long millis);
}

The details of the class structure are given as follows:

public final static int AM;

public final static int AM represents a constant value that represents morning times.

public final static int AM_PM;

public final static int AM_PM represents a field constant that represents the A.M./P.M. flag of this object.

public final static int APRIL;

public final static int APRIL represents a constant value that represents the month of April.

public final static int AUGUST;

public final static int AUGUST represents a constant value that represents the month of August.

public final static int DATE;

public final static int DATE represents a field constant that represents the day of the month of this object.

public final static int DAY_OF_MONTH;

public final static int DAY_OF_MONTH represents a field constant that represents the day of the month of this object. This field is synonymous with DATE.

public final static int DAY_OF_WEEK;

public final static int DAY_OF_WEEK represents a field constant that represents the day of the week of this object.

public final static int DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH;

public final static int DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH represents a field constant that represents the day of the week in the current month. For example, February 10, 1997, has a DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH value of 2 because it is the second Monday in February for that year.

public final static int DAY_OF_YEAR;

public final static int DAY_OF_YEAR represents a field constant that represents the day of the year of this object. January 1 is the first day of the year.

public final static int DECEMBER;

public final static int DECEMBER represents a constant value that represents the month of December.

public final static int DST_OFFSET;

public final static int DST_OFFSET represents a field constant that represents the offset due to daylight savings time, in milliseconds, of this object.

public final static int ERA;

public final static int ERA represents a field constant that represents the era of this object. A Gregorian calendar has two eras, BC and AD.

public final static int FEBRUARY;

public final static int FEBRUARY represents a constant value that represents the month of February.

public final static int FIELD_COUNT;

public final static int FIELD_COUNT represents a constant that represents the number of attribute fields for Calendar objects.

public final static int FRIDAY;

public final static int FRIDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Friday.

public final static int HOUR;

public final static int HOUR represents a field constant that represents the hour of this object.

public final static int HOUR_OF_DAY;

public final static int HOUR_OF_DAY represents a field constant that represents the hour of the day of this object. A time of 1:00 P.M. has an HOUR value of 1, but an HOUR_OF_DAY value of 13.

public final static int JANUARY;

public final static int JANUARY represents a constant value that represents the month of January.

public final static int JULY;

public final static int JULY represents a constant value that represents the month of July.

public final static int JUNE;

public final static int JUNE represents a constant value that represents the month of June.

public final static int MARCH;

public final static int MARCH represents a constant value that represents the month of March.

public final static int MAY;

public final static int MAY represents a constant value that represents the month of May.

public final static int MILLISECOND;

public final static int MILLISECOND represents a field constant that represents the milliseconds of this object.

public final static int MINUTE;

public final static int MINUTE represents a field constant that represents the minutes of this object.

public final static int MONDAY;

public final static int MONDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Monday.

public final static int MONTH;

public final static int MONTH represents a field constant that represents the month of this object.

public final static int NOVEMBER;

public final static int NOVEMBER represents a constant value that represents the month of November.

public final static int OCTOBER;

public final static int OCTOBER represents a constant value that represents the month of October.

public final static int PM;

public final static int PM represents a constant value that represents afternoon and evening times.

public final static int SATURDAY;

public final static int SATURDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Saturday.

public final static int SECOND;

public final static int SECOND represents a field constant that represents the seconds of this object.

public final static int SEPTEMBER;

public final static int SEPTEMBER represents a constant value that represents the month of September.

public final static int SUNDAY;

public final static int SUNDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Sunday.

public final static int THURSDAY;

public final static int THURSDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Thursday.

public final static int TUESDAY;

public final static int TUESDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Tuesday.

public final static int UNDECIMBER;

public final static int UNDECIMBER represents a constant value that represents the thirteenth month used in lunar calendars.

public final static int WEDNESDAY;

public final static int WEDNESDAY represents a constant value that represents the day Wednesday.

public final static int WEEK_OF_MONTH;

public final static int WEEK_OF_MONTH represents a field constant that represents the week of the month of this object.

public final static int WEEK_OF_YEAR;

public final static int WEEK_OF_YEAR represents a field constant that represents the week of the year of this object.

public final static int YEAR;

public final static int YEAR represents a field constant that represents the year of this object.

public final static int ZONE_OFFSET;

public final static int ZONE_OFFSET represents a field constant that represents the raw time zone offset, in milliseconds, of this object. The value should be added to GMT to get local time.

protected boolean areFieldsSet;

protected boolean areFieldsSet represents a boolean value that indicates if the time fields of this Calendar have been set. These fields can be computed from the raw millisecond time value.

protected int[] fields;

protected int[] fields represent an array that stores the time field values for this Calendar.

protected boolean[] isSet;

protected boolean[] isSet represents an array that contains a flag for each entry in the fields array. The value of each flag indicates if the corresponding entry in fields has been set for this Calendar.

protected boolean isTimeSet;

protected boolean isTimeSet represents a boolean value that indicates if the raw millisecond time value of this Calendar has been set. The value can be computed from the time fields.

protected long time;

protected long time represents the raw time value for this Calendar. The value is the number of milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 GMT.

protected Calendar();

protected Calendar() constructor creates a Calendar that uses the system’s default time zone and locale. The default time zone is that returned by TimeZone.getDefault(). The default locale is that returned by Locale.getDefault().

protected Calendar(TimeZone zone, Locale aLocale);

protected Calendar(TimeZone zone, Locale aLocale) constructor creates a Calendar that uses the supplied time zone and locale.

Parameter
zone – The TimeZone to use.
aLocale – The Locale to use.

public static synchronized Locale[] getAvailableLocales();

public static synchronized Locale[] getAvailableLocales() method returns an array of locales that have corresponding Calendar objects.

This method returns an array of Locale objects for which Calendar objects are installed.

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance();

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance() method returns a newly constructed Calendar for the default time zone and locale. Future implementations of this method may infer the subclass of Calendar to instantiate based on the default locale.

However, the current implementation always returns a GregorianCalendar. The default time zone is that returned by TimeZone.getDefault(). The default locale is that returned by Locale.getDefault().

This method returns a Calendar for the default time zone and locale.

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(TimeZone zone);

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(TimeZone zone) method returns a newly constructed Calendar for the given time zone and the default locale. Future implementations of this method may infer the subclass of Calendar to instantiate based on the default locale.

However, the current implementation always returns a GregorianCalendar. The default locale is that returned by Locale.getDefault().

This method returns a Calendar for the given time zone and the default locale.

Parameter
zone – The TimeZone to use.

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(Locale aLocale);

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(Locale aLocale) method returns a newly constructed Calendar for the given locale and the default time zone. Future implementations of this method may infer the subclass of Calendar to instantiate based on the given locale.

However, the current implementation always returns a GregorianCalendar. The default time zone is that returned by TimeZone.getDefault().

This method returns a Calendar for the given locale and the default time zone.

Parameter
aLocale – The Locale to use.

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(TimeZone zone,Locale aLocale);

public static synchronized Calendar getInstance(TimeZone zone,Locale aLocale) method returns a newly constructed Calendar for the given time zone and locale. Future implementations of this method may infer the subclass of Calendar to instantiate based on the given locale.

However, the current implementation always returns a GregorianCalendar.

This method returns a Calendar for the given time zone and locale.

Parameter
zone – The TimeZone to use.
aLocale – The Locale to use.

public abstract void add(int field, int amount);

public abstract void add(int field, int amount) method adds the given amount to the specified time field. For example, you can compute a date 90 days beyond the current date of this Calendar by calling add(Calendar.DATE, 90).

Parameter
field – The time field to be modified.
amount – The amount to add to the specified field value. This value can be negative.

public abstract boolean after(Object when);

public abstract boolean after(Object when) method returns true if when is a Calendar object whose value falls before the value of this Calendar.

This method returns true if this object is after when; false otherwise.

Parameter
when – The object to compare to this Calendar.

public abstract boolean before(Object when);

public abstract boolean before(Object when) method returns true if when is a Calendar object whose value falls after the value of this Calendar.

This method returns true if this object is before when; false otherwise.

Parameter
when – The object to compare to this Calendar.

public final void clear();

public final void clear() method clears the values of all of the time fields of this Calendar.

public final void clear(int field);

public final void clear(int field) method clears the specified time field by setting its value to 0.

Parameter
field – The time field to be cleared.

public Object clone();

public Object clone() method creates a copy of this Calendar and returns it. In other words, the returned Calendar has the same time field values and raw time value as this Calendar.

This method returns a copy of this Calendar.

public abstract boolean equals(Object when);

public abstract boolean equals(Object when) method returns true if when is an instance of Calendar and it contains the same value as the object this method is associated with.

This method returns true if the objects are equal; false if they are not.

Parameter
when – The object to be compared with this object.

public final int get(int field);

public final int get(int field) method returns the value of the specified time field. If the fields of this Calendar have not been set, they are set from the raw time value before the requested field is returned.

This method returns the value of the given time field.

Parameter
field – The time field to be retrieved.

public int getFirstDayOfWeek();

public int getFirstDayOfWeek() method returns the day that is considered the beginning of the week for this Calendar. This value is determined by the Locale of this Calendar. For example, the first day of the week in the United States is Sunday, while in France it is Monday.

This method returns the first day of the week for this Calendar.

public abstract int getGreatestMinimum(int field);

public abstract int getGreatestMinimum(int field) method returns the highest minimum value for the given time field if the field has a range of minimum values. If the field does not have a range of minimum values, this method is equivalent to getMinimum().

This method returns the highest minimum value for the given time field.

Parameter
field – A time field constant.

public abstract int getLeastMaximum(int field);

public abstract int getLeastMaximum(int field) method returns the lowest maximum value for the given time field if the field has a range of maximum values. If the field does not have a range of maximum values, this method is equivalent to getMaximum().

For example, for a GregorianCalendar, the lowest maximum value of DATE_OF_MONTH is 28.

This method returns the lowest maximum value for the given time field.

Parameter
field – A time field constant.

public abstract int getMaximum(int field);

public abstract int getMaximum(int field) method returns the maximum value for the given time field. For example, for a GregorianCalendar, the maximum value of DATE_OF_MONTH is 31.

This method returns the maximum value for the given time field.

Parameter
field – A time field constant.

public int getMinimalDaysInFirstWeek();

public int getMinimalDaysInFirstWeek() method returns the number of days that must be in the first week of the year. For example, a value of 7 indicates that the first week of the year must be a full week, while a value of 1 indicates that the first week of the year can contain a single day. This value is determined by the Locale of this Calendar.

This method returns the number of days that must be in the first week of the year.

public abstract int getMinimum(int field);

public abstract int getMinimum(int field) method returns the minimum value for the given time field. For example, for a GregorianCalendar, the minimum value of DATE_OF_MONTH is 1.

This method returns the minimum value for the given time field.

Parameter
field – A time field constant.

public final Date getTime();

public final Date getTime() method returns a newly created Date object that is constructed from the value returned by getTimeInMillis().

This method returns a Date object that represents the point in time represented by this Calendar.

public TimeZone getTimeZone();

public TimeZone getTimeZone() method returns the TimeZone object for this Calendar.

This method returns the TimeZone of this Calendar.

public boolean isLenient();

public boolean isLenient() method returns the current leniency of this Calendar. A value of false indicates that the Calendar throws exceptions when questionable data is passed to it, while a value of true indicates that the Calendar makes its best guess to interpret questionable data.

For example, if the Calendar is being lenient, a date such as March 135, 1997 is interpreted as the 134th day after March 1, 1997.

This method returns a boolean value that indicates the leniency of this Calendar.

public final boolean isSet(int field);

public final boolean isSet(int field) method returns a boolean value that indicates whether or not the specified time field has been set.

This method returns true if the time field has been set; false otherwise.

Parameter
field – A time field constant.

public abstract void roll(int field, boolean up);

public abstract void roll(int field, boolean up) method adds or subtracts one-time unit from the given time field. For example, to increase the current date by one day, you can call roll(Calendar.DATE, true).

The method maintains the field being rolled within its valid range. For example, in a calendar system that uses hours and minutes to measure time, rolling the minutes up from 59 sets that field to 0. By the same token, rolling that field down from 0 sets it to 59.

The roll() method does not adjust the value of any other field than the one specified by its field argument. In particular, for calendar systems that have months with different numbers of days, it may be necessary to adjust the month and also the year when the day of the month is rolled up. It is the responsibility of the caller of the roll() to perform that adjustment.

Parameter
field – The time field to be adjusted.
up – A boolean value that indicates if the given field should be incremented.

public final void set(int field, int value);

public final void set(int field, int value) method sets the value of the specified time field.

Parameter
field – The time field to be set.
value – The new value.

public final void set(int year, int month, int date);

public final void set(int year, int month, int date) method sets the values of the year, month, and day-of-the-month fields of this Calendar.

Parameter
year – The value for the year field.
month – The value for the month field, where 0 represents the first month.
date – The value for the day-of-the-month field.

public final void set(int year, int month, int date,int hour, int minute);

public final void set(int year, int month, int date,int hour, int minute) method sets the values of the year, month, day-of-the-month, hour, and minute fields of this Calendar.

Parameter
year – The value for the year field.
month – The value for the month field, where 0 represents the first month.
date – The value for the day-of-the-month field.
hour – The value for the hour field.
minute – The value for the minute field.

public final void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour,int minute, int second);

public final void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour,int minute, int second) method sets the values of the year, month, day-of-the-month, hour, minute, and second fields of this Calendar.

Parameter
year – The value for the year field.
month – The value for the month field, where 0 represents the first month.
date – The value for the day-of-the-month field.
hour – The value for the hour field.
minute – The value for the minute field.
second – The value for the second field.

public void setFirstDayOfWeek(int value);

public void setFirstDayOfWeek(int value) method sets the day that is considered the beginning of the week for this Calendar. This value should be determined by the Locale of this Calendar. For example, the first day of the week in the United States is Sunday; in France it’s Monday.

Parameter
value -The value for the first day of the week.

public void setLenient(boolean lenient);

public void setLenient(boolean lenient) method sets the leniency of this Calendar. A value of false specifies that the Calendar throws exceptions when questionable data is passed to it, while a value of true indicates that the Calendar makes its best guess to interpret questionable data. For example, if the Calendar is being lenient, a date such as March 135, 1997 is interpreted as the 135th day after March 1, 1997.

Parameter
lenient – A boolean value that specifies the leniency of this Calendar.

public void setMinimalDaysInFirstWeek(int value);

public void setMinimalDaysInFirstWeek(int value) method sets the minimum number of days in the first week of the year. For example, a value of 7 indicates the first week of the year must be a full week, while a value of 1 indicates the first week of the year can contain a single day. This value should be determined by the Locale of this Calendar.

Parameter
value – The value for the minimum number of days in the first week of the year.

public final void setTime(Date date);

public final void setTime(Date date) method sets the point in time that is represented by this Calendar.

Parameter
date – A Date object that represents the new time value.

public void setTimeZone(TimeZone value);

public void setTimeZone(TimeZone value) method is used to set the time zone of this Calendar.

Parameter
value – A TimeZone object that represents the new time zone.

protected void complete();

protected void complete() method fills out the fields of this Calendar as much as possible by calling computeTime() and computeFields().

protected abstract void computeFields();

protected abstract void computeFields() method calculates the time fields of this Calendar from its raw time value.

protected abstract void computeTime();

protected abstract void computeTime() method calculates the raw time value of this Calendar from its time field values.

protected long getTimeInMillis();

protected long getTimeInMillis() method returns the raw time value of this Calendar. The value is measured as the number of milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 GMT.

This method returns the raw time value of this Calendar.

protected final int internalGet(int field);

protected final int internalGet(int field) method returns the value of the specified time field without first checking to see if it needs to be computed from the raw time value.

This method returns the value of the given time field.

Parameter
field – A time field constant.

protected void setTimeInMillis(long millis);

protected void setTimeInMillis(long millis) method sets the raw time value of this Calendar. The value is measured as the number of milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 GMT.

Parameter
millis – The new raw time value for this Calendar.

Apart from these Calendar class also has inherited methods from class- Object. They are as follows:

  • finalize()
  • hashCode()
  • notifyAll()
  • wait()
  • wait(long, int)
  • equals(Object)
  • getClass()
  • notify()
  • toString()
  • wait(long)

 

 

Umer Umer

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