Java™ Platform
Standard Ed. 6

javax.activation
Class FileTypeMap

java.lang.Object
  extended by javax.activation.FileTypeMap
Direct Known Subclasses:
MimetypesFileTypeMap

public abstract class FileTypeMap
extends Object

The FileTypeMap is an abstract class that provides a data typing interface for files. Implementations of this class will implement the getContentType methods which will derive a content type from a file name or a File object. FileTypeMaps could use any scheme to determine the data type, from examining the file extension of a file (like the MimetypesFileTypeMap) to opening the file and trying to derive its type from the contents of the file. The FileDataSource class uses the default FileTypeMap (a MimetypesFileTypeMap unless changed) to determine the content type of files.

Since:
1.6
See Also:
FileTypeMap, FileDataSource, MimetypesFileTypeMap

Constructor Summary
FileTypeMap()
          The default constructor.
 
Method Summary
abstract  String getContentType(File file)
          Return the type of the file object.
abstract  String getContentType(String filename)
          Return the type of the file passed in.
static FileTypeMap getDefaultFileTypeMap()
          Return the default FileTypeMap for the system.
static void setDefaultFileTypeMap(FileTypeMap map)
          Sets the default FileTypeMap for the system.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

FileTypeMap

public FileTypeMap()
The default constructor.

Method Detail

getContentType

public abstract String getContentType(File file)
Return the type of the file object. This method should always return a valid MIME type.

Parameters:
file - A file to be typed.
Returns:
The content type.

getContentType

public abstract String getContentType(String filename)
Return the type of the file passed in. This method should always return a valid MIME type.

Parameters:
filename - the pathname of the file.
Returns:
The content type.

setDefaultFileTypeMap

public static void setDefaultFileTypeMap(FileTypeMap map)
Sets the default FileTypeMap for the system. This instance will be returned to callers of getDefaultFileTypeMap.

Parameters:
map - The FileTypeMap.
Throws:
SecurityException - if the caller doesn't have permission to change the default

getDefaultFileTypeMap

public static FileTypeMap getDefaultFileTypeMap()
Return the default FileTypeMap for the system. If setDefaultFileTypeMap was called, return that instance, otherwise return an instance of MimetypesFileTypeMap.

Returns:
The default FileTypeMap
See Also:
setDefaultFileTypeMap(javax.activation.FileTypeMap)

Java™ Platform
Standard Ed. 6

Submit a bug or feature
For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

Copyright © 1993, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.