/* ====================================================================   Copyright 2002-2004   Apache Software Foundation   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.   You may obtain a copy of the License at       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and   limitations under the License.==================================================================== */        package org.apache.poi.hpsf;import java.util.Collections;import java.util.HashMap;import java.util.Map;/** * <p>The <em>Variant</em> types as defined by Microsoft's COM. I * found this information in <a * href="http://www.marin.clara.net/COM/variant_type_definitions.htm"> * http://www.marin.clara.net/COM/variant_type_definitions.htm</a>.</p> * * <p>In the variant types descriptions the following shortcuts are * used: <strong> [V]</strong> - may appear in a VARIANT, * <strong>[T]</strong> - may appear in a TYPEDESC, * <strong>[P]</strong> - may appear in an OLE property set, * <strong>[S]</strong> - may appear in a Safe Array.</p> * * @author Rainer Klute (klute@rainer-klute.de) * @version $Id: Variant.java,v 1.10 2004/04/09 13:05:16 glens Exp $ * @since 2002-02-09 */public class Variant{    /**     * <p>[V][P] Nothing, i.e. not a single byte of data.</p>     */    public static final int VT_EMPTY = 0;    /**     * <p>[V][P] SQL style Null.</p>     */    public static final int VT_NULL = 1;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] 2 byte signed int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_I2 = 2;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] 4 byte signed int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_I4 = 3;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] 4 byte real.</p>     */    public static final int VT_R4 = 4;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] 8 byte real.</p>     */    public static final int VT_R8 = 5;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] currency. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_CY = 6;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] date. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_DATE = 7;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] OLE Automation string. <span     * style="background-color: #ffff00">How long is this? How is it     * to be interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_BSTR = 8;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] IDispatch *. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_DISPATCH = 9;    /**     * <p>[V][T][S] SCODE. <span style="background-color: #ffff00">How     * long is this? How is it to be interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_ERROR = 10;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] True=-1, False=0.</p>     */    public static final int VT_BOOL = 11;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] VARIANT *. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_VARIANT = 12;    /**     * <p>[V][T][S] IUnknown *. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_UNKNOWN = 13;    /**     * <p>[V][T][S] 16 byte fixed point.</p>     */    public static final int VT_DECIMAL = 14;    /**     * <p>[T] signed char.</p>     */    public static final int VT_I1 = 16;    /**     * <p>[V][T][P][S] unsigned char.</p>     */    public static final int VT_UI1 = 17;    /**     * <p>[T][P] unsigned short.</p>     */    public static final int VT_UI2 = 18;    /**     * <p>[T][P] unsigned int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_UI4 = 19;    /**     * <p>[T][P] signed 64-bit int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_I8 = 20;    /**     * <p>[T][P] unsigned 64-bit int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_UI8 = 21;    /**     * <p>[T] signed machine int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_INT = 22;    /**     * <p>[T] unsigned machine int.</p>     */    public static final int VT_UINT = 23;    /**     * <p>[T] C style void.</p>     */    public static final int VT_VOID = 24;    /**     * <p>[T] Standard return type. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_HRESULT = 25;    /**     * <p>[T] pointer type. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_PTR = 26;    /**     * <p>[T] (use VT_ARRAY in VARIANT).</p>     */    public static final int VT_SAFEARRAY = 27;    /**     * <p>[T] C style array. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_CARRAY = 28;    /**     * <p>[T] user defined type. <span style="background-color:     * #ffff00">How long is this? How is it to be     * interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_USERDEFINED = 29;    /**     * <p>[T][P] null terminated string.</p>     */    public static final int VT_LPSTR = 30;    /**     * <p>[T][P] wide (Unicode) null terminated string.</p>     */    public static final int VT_LPWSTR = 31;    /**     * <p>[P] FILETIME. The FILETIME structure holds a date and time     * associated with a file. The structure identifies a 64-bit     * integer specifying the number of 100-nanosecond intervals which     * have passed since January 1, 1601. This 64-bit value is split     * into the two dwords stored in the structure.</p>     */    public static final int VT_FILETIME = 64;    /**     * <p>[P] Length prefixed bytes.</p>     */    public static final int VT_BLOB = 65;    /**     * <p>[P] Name of the stream follows.</p>     */    public static final int VT_STREAM = 66;    /**     * <p>[P] Name of the storage follows.</p>     */    public static final int VT_STORAGE = 67;    /**     * <p>[P] Stream contains an object. <span     * style="background-color: #ffff00"> How long is this? How is it     * to be interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_STREAMED_OBJECT = 68;    /**     * <p>[P] Storage contains an object. <span     * style="background-color: #ffff00"> How long is this? How is it     * to be interpreted?</span></p>     */    public static final int VT_STORED_OBJECT = 69;    /**