public MethodConfigUserObject(Class type,
    String value) throws MethodConfigUserObjectException 
{
    if(type == null || value == null)
    {
      throw new MethodConfigUserObjectException(
	"Parameters of MethodConfigUserObject constructor cannot be null");
    }
    this.type = type;
    // ensure that the class type is one of the 8 primitives
    try
    { 
      if(type.getName().equals(INTEGER))
      {
        object = new Integer(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(LONG))
      {
        object = new Long(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(FLOAT))
      {
        object = new Float(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(DOUBLE))
      {
        object = new Double(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(BOOLEAN))
      {
        object = Boolean.valueOf(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(CHAR))
      {
        if(value.length() == 1)
        {
          object = new Character(value.charAt(0));
        }
        else
        {
          throw new MethodConfigUserObjectException(
		"Value format not compatible with class");
        }
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(BYTE))
      {
        object = new Byte(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(SHORT))
      {
        object = new Short(value);
      }
      else if(type.getName().equals(STRING_CLASS))
      {
        object = new String(value);
      }
    }
    catch(NumberFormatException e)
    { 
      throw new MethodConfigUserObjectException(
	"Value format not compatible with class");
    }
}

 public Object getObject() 
{
    return object;
}

 public Class getType() 
{
    return type;
}

 public String toString() 
{
    StringBuffer strbuff = new StringBuffer();
    strbuff.append(type.getName());
    strbuff.append(" : ");
    strbuff.append(object);
    return strbuff.toString();
}