org.ogf.saga.isn
Interface EntityDataSet

All Superinterfaces:

Cloneable, SagaObject

public interface EntityDataSet
extends SagaObject

Provides the means to navigate around the information model for a selected entity and gives access to the EntityData objects.

Navigation consists of moving from entity to entity within an information model, as expressed in the GLUE entity relationship model. Navigation can also be from entity to related entity. A list of possible navigation steps from an EntityDataSet object is returned by the listRelatedEntityNames method. Navigation to a set of related entities is achieved with the getRelatedEntities method, which returns a new EntityDataSet object. N.B. navigation is from a set of EntityData objects to a new set, a many to many relationship.

In order to restrict the number of EntityData objects returned in the EntityDataSet object, a filter may be used with the getRelatedEntities method. The filter MUST only include attributes from the related entity and it will be applied to the related entities.

Field Summary

Fields inherited from interface org.ogf.saga.SagaObject

NO_WAIT, WAIT_FOREVER

Method Summary

Set<EntityData>	getData() Returns a set of EntityData objects.
EntityDataSet	getRelatedEntities(String relatedName) Returns an EntityDataSet object for the given entity name.
EntityDataSet	getRelatedEntities(String relatedName, String filter) Returns an EntityDataSet object for the given entity name and matching the filter string.
List<String>	listRelatedEntityNames() Returns a set of names of those entities that may be navigated to, from this EntityDataSet.

Methods inherited from interface org.ogf.saga.SagaObject

clone, getId, getSession

Method Detail

getData

Set<EntityData> getData()

Returns a set of EntityData objects.

Returns:

a set of EntityData objects associated with this entity

getRelatedEntities

EntityDataSet getRelatedEntities(String relatedName,
                                 String filter)
                                 throws BadParameterException,
                                        NoSuccessException

Returns an EntityDataSet object for the given entity name and matching the filter string. The filter MUST only include attributes from the related entity. More details about the filter can be found in the package description. N.B. There is a special case where there is a self relationship between entities, i.e. "AdminDomain" in GLUE 2, in such cases the keywords up and down may be used in place of the name of the related entity to navigate to. For example where AdminDomain="rl.ac.uk" up may return AdminDomain="ac.uk".

Parameters:

relatedName - a string containing the name of the related entity to navigate to

filter - a string containing the filter for filtering related entities, may be null

Returns:

a related entity data set matching the specified filter string

Throws:

BadParameterException - if the related name is not valid, or the filter is not valid

NoSuccessException - if no result can be returned because of information system or other internal problems

See Also:

listRelatedEntityNames()

getRelatedEntities

EntityDataSet getRelatedEntities(String relatedName)
                                 throws BadParameterException,
                                        NoSuccessException

Returns an EntityDataSet object for the given entity name. N.B. There is a special case where there is a self relationship between entities, i.e. "AdminDomain" in GLUE 2, in such cases the keywords up and down may be used in place of the name of the related entity to navigate to. For example where AdminDomain="rl.ac.uk" up may return AdminDomain="ac.uk".

Parameters:

relatedName - a string containing the name of the related entity to navigate to

Returns:

a related entity data set

Throws:

BadParameterException - if the related name is not valid

NoSuccessException - if no result can be returned because of information system or other internal problems

See Also:

listRelatedEntityNames()

listRelatedEntityNames

List<String> listRelatedEntityNames()

Returns a set of names of those entities that may be navigated to, from this EntityDataSet. N.B There is a special case where there is a self relationship between entities, i.e. "AdminDomain" in GLUE 2, in such cases the keywords up and down will also be returned as appropriate.

Returns:

a list of names of related entities