org.eclipse.higgins.idas.api.model
Interface IAttributeModel

All Superinterfaces:

IModel

public interface IAttributeModel

extends IModel

Represents a model of attribute as it defined in the context's ontology model.

The type returned by IModel.getType() could be used in IHasAttributes.addAttribute(URI) to create an IAttribute of represented type.

See Also:

IAttribute

Method Summary

int	getMaxCardinality() Returns the maximum number of values required by occurrences of this attribute.
int	getMinCardinality() Returns the minimum number of values required by occurrences of this attribute.
IAttributeValueModel	getValueModel() Deprecated. Attribute values can all have different value models now
boolean	isDirect() Deprecated. Don't know what this is

Methods inherited from interface org.eclipse.higgins.idas.api.model.IModel

getDisplayData, getType

Method Detail

getValueModel

public IAttributeValueModel getValueModel()
                                   throws IdASException

Deprecated. Attribute values can all have different value models now

Returns value model of represented type of attribute as it defined in the context's ontology model.

Throws:

IdASException

isDirect

public boolean isDirect()
                 throws IdASException

Deprecated. Don't know what this is

TODO: What is this for?

Throws:

IdASException

getMaxCardinality

public int getMaxCardinality()
                      throws IdASException

Returns the maximum number of values required by occurrences of this attribute. When this IAttributeModel is returned from IEntityModel.getAttributeModel(URI) or IEntityModel.getAttributeModels(), the maximum cardinality refers to occurrences of this attribute in relationship to that Entity type. When this IAttributeModel is returned from IContextModel.getModel(URI), the minimum cardinality refers to the default behavior of occurrences of this attribute, but the cardinality may be overridden as the attribute is applied to any given Entity type. Therefore, it's best to query an attribute's cardinality as it applies to a particular Entity.

Returns:

A positive number indicates the maximum number of values that may be present. The value -1 indicates that there is no limit to the number of values that may be present. The value 0 has no meaning and should not be returned.

Throws:

IdASException

See Also:

getMaxCardinality()

getMinCardinality

public int getMinCardinality()
                      throws IdASException

Returns the minimum number of values required by occurrences of this attribute. When this IAttributeModel is returned from IEntityModel.getAttributeModel(URI) or IEntityModel.getAttributeModels(), the minimum cardinality refers to occurrences of this attribute in relationship to that Entity type. When this IAttributeModel is returned from IContextModel.getModel(URI), the minimum cardinality refers to the default behavior of occurrences of this attribute, but the cardinality may be overridden as the attribute is applied to any given Entity type. Therefore, it's best to query an attribute's cardinality as it applies to a particular Entity.

Returns:

0 if no values are required to be present. This of course also means the attribute itself is optional. A positive number indicates the minimum number of values that must be present. The value -1 has no meaning and should not be returned.

Throws:

IdASException

See Also:

getMinCardinality()