Document Names

Rat must be able to distinguish files in multiple file systems; most notably Windows® and Linux®. In addition, we want Rat to produce reports that are comparable across the platforms. To achieve these goals the org.apache.rat.document.impl.DocumentName class was developed.

All documents in the Rat system have a base directory. Different UIs will set the base directory differently. For example:

• The command line sets the base directory to the directory or archive specified on the command line.
• Ant UI sets the base directory to the directory where the build.xml file is located.
• Maven UI sets the base directory to the directory where the project is located.
• Other UIs may define the base directory as it fits the underlying build system.

When reporting a document Rat will report the path from the base directory to the file; the path relative to the base directory.

The DocumentName comprises:

• name: The fully qualified file name as provided by the underlying file system.
• baseName: The fully qualified base directory name as provided by the underlying file system.
• dirSeparator: The directory separator string used by the underlying file system.
• isCaseSensitive: The case-sensitive flag for the underlying file system.

The class DocumentName also provides a static value that identifies the case-sensitivity of the underlying operating system.

DocumentName also provides methods to:

• Resolve a name: This method takes a path relative to the DocumentName and creates a new DocumentName instance with the same baseName, dirSeparator and case-sensitivity flag is the original DocumentName.
• Localize a name: This method returns the path from the baseName to the file. It utilizes the dirSeparator to separate the directories.
• Localize with separator: This method returns the path from the baseName to the file but utilizes a specified string as the directory separator.
• Short name: This method returns the last segment of the name.