Updated message formatting to be more compatible with Dart string interpolation.

lib/i18n/date_format.dart

 /**
  * Copyright (c) 2012, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
  * for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
  * BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
  *
- * DateFormat is for formatting and parsing dates in a locale-sensitive 
- * manner. 
- * It allows the user to use any customized pattern to parse or format 
- * date-time strings under certain locales. Date elements that vary across 
+ * DateFormat is for formatting and parsing dates in a locale-sensitive
+ * manner.
+ * It allows the user to use any customized pattern to parse or format
+ * date-time strings under certain locales. Date elements that vary across
  * locales include month name, weekname, field, order, etc.
  *
  * This library uses the ICU/JDK date/time pattern specification as described
  * below.
  *
  * Time Format Syntax: To specify the time format use a time pattern string.
  * In this pattern, following letters are reserved as pattern letters, which
  * are defined in the following manner:
  *
  *     Symbol   Meaning                Presentation        Example
@@ skipping 77 matching lines @@
  * the run, then the leftmost field is shortened by one character, and the
  * entire run is parsed again. This is repeated until either the parse succeeds
  * or the leftmost field is one character in length. If the parse still fails at
  * that point, the parse of the run fails.
  */
 
 #library('DateFormat');
 
 class DateFormat {
 
-  /** Definition of this object formats dates. */
+  /** Definition of how this object formats dates.

[Emily Fortuna, 2012/06/05 22:34:17]

the top line of this sort of comment should be blank:
/**
  * Comment begins here.

[Alan Knight, 2012/06/06 22:05:58]

Done.

+   * (TODO) alanknight This might just be a String, but it's not clear yet.
+   */
   var formatDefinition;
 
+  /** The locale we use to format dates.

[Emily Fortuna, 2012/06/05 22:34:17]

same.

[Alan Knight, 2012/06/06 22:05:58]

Done.

+   * (TODO) alanknight Is there a Locale type? Or is this just a string?
+   */
+  var locale;
+
+
    /** Date/Time format patterns. */
-   // TODO(alanknight): There's a style question of whether to use fullDate or 
+   // TODO(alanknight): There's a style question of whether to use fullDate or
    // FULL_DATE naming conventions.
    static final int _fullDate = 0;
    static final int _longDate = 1;
    static final int _mediumDate = 2;
    static final int _shortDate = 3;
    static final int _fullTime = 4;
    static final int _longTime = 5;
    static final int _mediumTime = 6;
    static final int _shortTime = 7;
    static final int _fullDateTime = 8;
    static final int _longDateTime = 9;
    static final int _mediumDateTime = 10;
    static final int _shortDateTime = 11;
-    
+
   /**
    * Named constructors for each of the above values.
-   * These could probably be made shorter if we just set the format to the 
-   * constant and the parsing was lazy.
    */
   DateFormat.fullDate() : this.formatDefinition = _fullDate;
   DateFormat.longDate() : this.formatDefinition = _longDate;
   DateFormat.mediumDate() : this.formatDefinition = _mediumDate;
   DateFormat.shortDate() : this.formatDefinition = _shortDate;
   DateFormat.fullTime() : this.formatDefinition = _fullTime;
   DateFormat.longTime() : this.formatDefinition = _longTime;
   DateFormat.mediumTime() : this.formatDefinition = _mediumTime;
   DateFormat.shortTime() : this.formatDefinition = _shortTime;
   DateFormat.fullDateTime() : this.formatDefinition = _fullDateTime;
   DateFormat.longDateTime() : this.formatDefinition = _longDateTime;
   DateFormat.mediumDateTime() : this.formatDefinition = _mediumDateTime;
   DateFormat.shortDateTime() : this.formatDefinition = _shortDateTime;
-  
+
+  /**
+   * Explicit constructor given a particular format
+   */
   DateFormat(this.formatDefinition);
 
   /**
-   * 
+   * Constructors for dates/times that use a default format.
+   */
+  DateFormat.date([this.locale]) : formatDefinition = _fullDate;
+  DateFormat.time() : formatDefinition = _fullTime;
+  DateFormat.dateTime() : formatDefinition = _fullDateTime;
+
+  /**
+   *
    */
   String parse(String inputString) {
     return inputString;
   }
 
  /**
-  * Format the given [date] object according to preset pattern and current 
+  * Format the given [date] object according to preset pattern and current
   * locale and return a formated string for the given date.
   */
   String format(Date date, [TimeZone timeZone]) {
     // TODO(efortuna): optional TimeZone argument? TimeZone is deprecated...
     return date.toString();
   }
 }