Archimedes Trajano offered another method for the class

git-svn-id: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/jakarta/commons/proper/lang/trunk@398536 13f79535-47bb-0310-9956-ffa450edef68

src/java/org/apache/commons/lang/text/CompositeFormat.java

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import java.text.Format;
 import java.text.FieldPosition;
 import java.text.ParsePosition;
+import java.text.ParseException;
 
 /**
  * Formats using one formatter and parses using a different formatter.
@@ -79,4 +80,15 @@ public Format getFormatter() {
         return this.formatter;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Utility method to parse and then reformat a String. 
+     * 
+     * @param source String to reformat
+     * @return A reformatted String
+     * @throws ParseException thrown by parseObject(String) call
+     */
+    public String reformat(String input) throws ParseException {
+        return format(parseObject(input));
+    }
+
 }

src/test/org/apache/commons/lang/text/CompositeFormatTest.java

@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@
 import junit.framework.TestSuite;
 import junit.textui.TestRunner;
 
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.util.Locale;
+
 /**
  * Unit tests for {@link org.apache.commons.lang.text.CompositeFormat}.
  */
@@ -94,4 +97,13 @@ public Object parseObject(String source, ParsePosition pos) {
         assertEquals( "Formatter get method incorrectly implemented", formatter, composite.getFormatter() );
     }
 
+    public void testUsage() throws Exception {
+        Format f1 = new SimpleDateFormat("MMddyyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
+        Format f2 = new SimpleDateFormat("MMMM d, yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
+        CompositeFormat c = new CompositeFormat(f1, f2);
+        String testString = "January 3, 2005";
+        assertEquals(testString, c.format(c.parseObject("01032005")));
+        assertEquals(testString, c.reformat("01032005"));
+    }
+
 }