au.com.zip.cs
Interface Entity

All Superinterfaces:

Comparable, HasID, TreeNode

All Known Subinterfaces:

User

All Known Implementing Classes:

EntityAdaptor, Group, Record, RelatedEntity, UserEntity, WrappedEntity

public interface Entity
extends TreeNode, HasID

A representation of a named entity. An Entity has an unique numeric id, a short name (eg a user's login name), a long name (eg a user's full name) and an enclosing EntityTable which accesses other Entities of this type.

Author:

Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> 8jul2002

Field Summary

static String	DEFAULT_ID_ATTRIBUTENAME The default attribute name for the identity field: ID.
static long	ID_NULL A sentinel value indicating no id value: -1.

Method Summary

Object	getAttribute(String name) Return the named attribute value from this entity.
Map	getAttributes() Return the named attributes and values of this Entity.
long	getDatedAttribute(String name) Return the milliseconds value corresponding to the named attribute value from this entity.
EntityTable	getEntityTable() Return this entity's enclosing EntityTable.
long	getID() Return the unique id for this Entity.
int	getIndex() Return the index of this Entity in the enclosing EntityTable.
String	getLongName() Return the long (descriptive) name for this entity.
long	getNumericAttribute(String name) Return the numeric value of the named attribute value from this entity, which must be a Number.
String	getShortName() Return the short name for this entity.
void	setAttribute(String name, Object value) Set the named attribute value from this entity.
void	setLongName(String newname) Set the Entity's long name.
void	setShortName(String newname) Set the Entity's short name.

Methods inherited from interface javax.swing.tree.TreeNode

children, getAllowsChildren, getChildAt, getChildCount, getIndex, getParent, isLeaf

Methods inherited from interface java.lang.Comparable

compareTo

Field Detail

ID_NULL

static final long ID_NULL

A sentinel value indicating no id value: -1.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

DEFAULT_ID_ATTRIBUTENAME

static final String DEFAULT_ID_ATTRIBUTENAME

The default attribute name for the identity field: ID.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

getEntityTable

EntityTable getEntityTable()

Return this entity's enclosing EntityTable.

Returns:

the table

getID

long getID()

Return the unique id for this Entity.

Specified by:

getID in interface HasID

Returns:

the id

getIndex

int getIndex()

Return the index of this Entity in the enclosing EntityTable.

Returns:

the Entity index

getShortName

String getShortName()

Return the short name for this entity.

Returns:

the short name

setShortName

void setShortName(String newname)

Set the Entity's short name. Normally it will be forbidden to set this to a name already in use. In many EntityTables this may be unimplemented.

Parameters:

newname - the new short name

getLongName

String getLongName()

Return the long (descriptive) name for this entity.

Returns:

the long name

setLongName

void setLongName(String newname)

Set the Entity's long name.

Parameters:

newname - the new long name

getAttributes

Map getAttributes()

Return the named attributes and values of this Entity. For example, these would be database table column names and values for a database record. Note that these are values associated with the Entity. The set of defined attributes (if such a thing even exists) is obtained from the Entity's enclosing EntityTable.
Note that this may be cached data or a snapshot of the values at the time of call. The caller should not expect the returned Map to track subsequent changes to the Entity.

Returns:

the attributes

See Also:

getEntityTable()

getAttribute

Object getAttribute(String name)

Return the named attribute value from this entity.

Parameters:

name - the attribute name

Returns:

the value

getNumericAttribute

long getNumericAttribute(String name)

Return the numeric value of the named attribute value from this entity, which must be a Number.

Parameters:

name - the attribute name

Returns:

the value

getDatedAttribute

long getDatedAttribute(String name)

Return the milliseconds value corresponding to the named attribute value from this entity. The attribute value must be a Number (if the date is stored as milliseconds) or a Date.

Parameters:

name - the attribute name

Returns:

the value

setAttribute

void setAttribute(String name,
                  Object value)

Set the named attribute value from this entity.

Parameters:

name - the attribute name

value - the new value