ch.agent.crnickl.api

Interface Schema

All Superinterfaces:

DBObject, IncompleteSchema

All Known Subinterfaces:

UpdatableSchema

All Known Implementing Classes:

SchemaImpl, UpdatableSchemaImpl

public interface Schema
extends IncompleteSchema, DBObject

A Schema defines the structure of a Chronicle. It could have been named "ChronicleDefinition" but because of its importance, a simpler name was preferred. A schema defines a number of Attributes and a number of Series. Series can themselves have attributes, as defined in their SeriesDefinition.

A schema can extend, override, or erase elements of another schema. Because of this, schemas form a tree structure (more precisely a forest). The base schema, if any, is only accessible from the UpdatableSchema, which can be obtained with the edit() method.

Author:

Jean-Paul Vetterli

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
boolean	dependsOnSchema(Schema schema) Return true if the schema depends on the schema specified.
UpdatableSchema	edit() Return an UpdatableSchema corresponding to this schema.
SeriesDefinition	getSeriesDefinition(int number, boolean mustExist) Return the series definition with the given series number.
SeriesDefinition	getSeriesDefinition(String name, boolean mustExist) Return the series definition with the given series name.
Collection<SeriesDefinition>	getSeriesDefinitions() Return all series definitions of this schema.
boolean	isComplete() Return true if the schema is complete.

Methods inherited from interface ch.agent.crnickl.api.IncompleteSchema

getAttributeDefinition, getAttributeDefinition, getAttributeDefinitions, getName

Methods inherited from interface ch.agent.crnickl.api.DBObject

getDatabase, getId, getSurrogate, inConstruction, isValid

Method Detail

isComplete

boolean isComplete()

Return true if the schema is complete. A schema is complete if all its components are complete. When a schema is complete it can be used in a chronicle. See also SchemaComponent.isComplete().

Returns:

true if the schema is complete

edit

UpdatableSchema edit()

Return an UpdatableSchema corresponding to this schema. Successfully getting an Updatable object does not imply that any update can be successfully applied.

Returns:

an updatable schema corresponding to this schema

getSeriesDefinitions

Collection<SeriesDefinition> getSeriesDefinitions()

Return all series definitions of this schema.

Returns:

the collection of series definitions

getSeriesDefinition

SeriesDefinition getSeriesDefinition(String name,
                                     boolean mustExist)
                              throws T2DBException

Return the series definition with the given series name. If there is no such definition, return null or throw an exception, depending on the value of the mustExist parameter.

Parameters:

name - the series defined

mustExist - if true throw an exception instead of returning null

Returns:

a series definition or null (only when mustExist is false)

Throws:

T2DBException

getSeriesDefinition

SeriesDefinition getSeriesDefinition(int number,
                                     boolean mustExist)
                              throws T2DBException

Return the series definition with the given series number. If there is no such definition, return null or throw an exception, depending on the value of the mustExist parameter.

Parameters:

number - the series defined

mustExist - if true throw an exception instead of returning null

Returns:

a series definition or null (only when mustExist is false)

Throws:

T2DBException

dependsOnSchema

boolean dependsOnSchema(Schema schema)

Return true if the schema depends on the schema specified.

Parameters:

schema - a schema

Returns:

true if the schema inherits from a given schema