package mineplex.serverdata;

import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;

/**
 * Utility offers various necessary utility-based methods for use in Mineplex.ServerData.
 * @author Ty
 *
 */
public class Utility 
{

	// The Gson instance used to serialize/deserialize objects in JSON form.
	private static Gson _gson = new GsonBuilder().create();
	public static Gson getGson() { return _gson; }
	
	/**
	 * @param object - the (non-null) object to serialize
	 * @return the serialized form of {@code object}.
	 */
	public static String serialize(Object object)
	{
		return _gson.toJson(object);
	}
	
	/**
	 * @param serializedData - the serialized data to be deserialized
	 * @param type - the resulting class type of the object to be deserialized
	 * @return the deserialized form of {@code serializedData} for class {@code type}.
	 */
	public static <T> T deserialize(String serializedData, Class<T> type)
	{
		return _gson.fromJson(serializedData, type);
	}
	
	/**
	 * @param delimiter - the delimiter character used to separate the concatenated elements
	 * @param elements - the set of string elements to be concatenated and returned.
	 * @return the concatenated string of all {@code elements} separated by the {@code delimiter}.
	 */
	public static String concatenate(char delimiter, String... elements)
	{
		int length = elements.length;
		String result = length > 0 ? elements[0] : new String();
		
		for (int i = 1; i < length; i++)
		{
			result += delimiter + elements[i];
		}
		
		return result;
	}
}