diff --git a/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/StringUtil.java b/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/StringUtil.java
index 19a6d3f7..6687847c 100644
--- a/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/StringUtil.java
+++ b/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/StringUtil.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: StringUtil.java,v 1.31 2002/02/23 18:24:02 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: StringUtil.java,v 1.32 2002/03/08 02:40:02 mdb Exp $
 //
 // samskivert library - useful routines for java programs
 // Copyright (C) 2001 Michael Bayne
@@ -422,6 +422,34 @@ public class StringUtil
         return vals;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Parses an array of floats from it's string representation. The
+     * array should be represented as a bare list of numbers separated by
+     * commas, for example:
+     *
+     * <pre>
+     * 25.0, .5, 1, 0.99
+     * </pre>
+     *
+     * Any inability to parse the array will result in the function
+     * returning null.
+     */
+    public static float[] parseFloatArray (String source)
+    {
+        StringTokenizer tok = new StringTokenizer(source, ",");
+        float[] vals = new float[tok.countTokens()];
+        for (int i = 0; tok.hasMoreTokens(); i++) {
+            try {
+                // trim the whitespace from the token
+                String token = tok.nextToken().trim();
+                vals[i] = Float.parseFloat(token);
+            } catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
+                return null;
+            }
+        }
+        return vals;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Parses an array of strings from a single string. The array should
      * be represented as a bare list of strings separated by commas, for
diff --git a/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/ValueMarshaller.java b/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/ValueMarshaller.java
index 21487dab..33663d30 100644
--- a/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/ValueMarshaller.java
+++ b/projects/samskivert/src/java/com/samskivert/util/ValueMarshaller.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: ValueMarshaller.java,v 1.3 2002/03/08 02:07:58 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: ValueMarshaller.java,v 1.4 2002/03/08 02:40:02 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.samskivert.util;
 
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ public class ValueMarshaller
     protected static HashMap _parsers;
 
     protected static final int[] INT_ARRAY_PROTOTYPE = new int[0];
+    protected static final float[] FLOAT_ARRAY_PROTOTYPE = new float[0];
     protected static final String[] STRING_ARRAY_PROTOTYPE = new String[0];
 
     static {
@@ -82,6 +83,13 @@ public class ValueMarshaller
             }
         });
 
+        // and float arrays
+        _parsers.put(FLOAT_ARRAY_PROTOTYPE.getClass(), new Parser() {
+            public Object parse (String source) throws Exception {
+                return StringUtil.parseFloatArray(source);
+            }
+        });
+
         // and string arrays, oh my!
         _parsers.put(STRING_ARRAY_PROTOTYPE.getClass(), new Parser() {
             public Object parse (String source) throws Exception {