things.data
Interface Attributes

All Superinterfaces:

AttributeReader, java.io.Serializable

All Known Implementing Classes:

ReadWriteableAttributes

public interface Attributes
extends AttributeReader, java.io.Serializable

This defines something that has attributes and read access only.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS SUCKS

This turned out to be a gigantic pain in the ass. We should have stuck with properties for everything. Oh, the irony. This came over from another project to support the error management. It should have been stopped at the door. It created two completely different ways to handle name/value pairs and a huge pile of crap code to transfer bits back and forth.

Version:

1.0

Version History

EPG - Rewrite from another project. - 25 APR 05
 

Author:

Erich P. Gatejen

Method Summary

void	addAttribute(AttributeReader reader) Add all the attributes that can be read from the reader.
void	addAttribute(NVImmutable attribute) Add an attribute in the native NV.
void	addAttribute(java.lang.String n, java.lang.String v) Add an attribute--single name to single value.
void	addMultiAttributes(java.lang.String... attributes) Add multiple attributes--single name to single value.
void	addMultiAttributes(java.lang.String name, java.lang.String... attributes) Add multiple attributes--single name to single value.
void	allowMulti() Allow multi-attributes with the same name.
void	disallowMulti() Disallow multi-attributes with the same name.
java.lang.Object	get() Get the underlying attribute data.
boolean	removeAttribute(java.lang.String n) Remove the named attribute.
void	set(java.lang.Object o) Get the underlying attribute data.

Methods inherited from interface things.data.AttributeReader

getAttribute, getAttribute, getAttributeCount, getAttributeCount, getAttributeNames, getAttributes, getAttributes, getAttributeValueToString, getAttributeValueToString, getPrivateSet, hasAttribute, isMultivalueAllowed

Method Detail

allowMulti

void allowMulti()

Allow multi-attributes with the same name.

disallowMulti

void disallowMulti()

Disallow multi-attributes with the same name. If the attribute set already has multi-attributes attributes, it should trim the attributes to a single value. The interface does not define how this will happen.
The implementation may choose to ignore this state and merely trim the duplicates whne this method is called.

addAttribute

void addAttribute(NVImmutable attribute)
                  throws ThingsException

Add an attribute in the native NV. If attribute is already set, it will overwrite it. The NV value may have multi-values.

Parameters:

attribute - the attribute

Throws:

ThingsException

See Also:

NV

addAttribute

void addAttribute(java.lang.String n,
                  java.lang.String v)
                  throws ThingsException

Add an attribute--single name to single value. If attribute is already set, it will overwrite it.

Parameters:

v - value of the attribute

Throws:

ThingsException

addAttribute

void addAttribute(AttributeReader reader)
                  throws ThingsException

Add all the attributes that can be read from the reader.

Parameters:

reader - a reader

Throws:

ThingsException

addMultiAttributes

void addMultiAttributes(java.lang.String... attributes)
                        throws ThingsException

Add multiple attributes--single name to single value. If attribute is already set, it will overwrite it.

Parameters:

attributes - The attributes in pairs.

Throws:

ThingsException

addMultiAttributes

void addMultiAttributes(java.lang.String name,
                        java.lang.String... attributes)
                        throws ThingsException

Add multiple attributes--single name to single value. If attribute is already set, it will overwrite it. The first attribute name will come from the name parameter. Then the first attribute value will head the attribute parameter. All following will be name/value pairs.

Parameters:

attributes - The attributes in pairs, except the first which will be the value pairing with the parameter name.

Throws:

ThingsException

removeAttribute

boolean removeAttribute(java.lang.String n)
                        throws ThingsException

Remove the named attribute. If the attribute existed, it will be deleted (along with multi-values), it will return true. If it does not exist, it will return false.

Parameters:

n - name of the attribute

Throws:

ThingsException

get

java.lang.Object get()

Get the underlying attribute data. This can be dangerous! The data is alterable. We will protect it some by passing it as an Object.

Returns:

An object for the underlying data structure.

set

void set(java.lang.Object o)
         throws ThingsException

Get the underlying attribute data. This can be dangerous! The data is alterable. We will protect it some by passing it as an Object. If it is not the proper type, it will throw a ThingsException.

Throws:

ThingsException