String to Boolean

ConversionUtility.java

public class ConversionUtility {

  /**
   * Set of appropriate types of Strings that we may convert booleans into or parse from
   */
  public static enum BooleanConversion {
    YN("Y", "N"), YesNo("Yes", "No"), TrueFalse("True", "False");
  
    public final String True;
    public final String False;
      
    private BooleanConversion(String t, String f) {
      this.True = t;
      this.False = f;
    }
  }
  
  /**
   * Converts a boolean value into a string according to a supplied conversion specification
   * @param value - boolean to be converted into a string
   * @param to - conversion specification
   * @return true or false String representations as identified by the conversion specification
   */
  public static String booleanToString(Boolean value, BooleanConversion to) {
    if (value == null) {
      return to.False;
    }
    return (value) ? to.True : to.False;
  }
  
  /**
   * Attempts to convert a string into a boolean following the specification provided for conversion
   * @param value - string to convert
   * @param from - conversion specification to match against
   * @returns a boolean value, or null if the string does not parse correctly into one of the boolean values
   */
  public static Boolean stringToBoolean(String value, BooleanConversion from) {
    if (value == null) {
      return null;
    }
    return (value.equals(from.True)) ? true : (value.equals(from.False)) ? false : null;
  }

}