An AttributeDefinition object defines a description of the * data type of a property/attribute. * * @version $Revision: 1.1.1.1 $ * @author Open Services Gateway Initiative */ public interface AttributeDefinition { /** * The STRING(1) type. * *
Attributes of this type should be stored as String, * Vector with String or String[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int STRING = 1; /** * The LONG(2) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Long, * Vector with Long or long[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int LONG = 2; /** * The INTEGER(3) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Integer, * Vector with Integer or int[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int INTEGER = 3; /** * The SHORT(4) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Short, * Vector with Short or short[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int SHORT = 4; /** * The CHARACTER(5) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Character, * Vector with Character or char[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int CHARACTER = 5; /** * The BYTE(6) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Byte, * Vector with Byte or byte[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int BYTE = 6; /** * The DOUBLE(7) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Double, * Vector with Double or double[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int DOUBLE = 7; /** * The FLOAT(8) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Float * Vector with Float or float[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int FLOAT = 8; /** * The BIGINTEGER(9) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as BigInteger, * Vector with BigInteger or BigInteger[] objects, depending * on the getCardinality() value. */ final int BIGINTEGER = 9; /** * The BIGDECIMAL(10) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as BigDecimal * Vector with BigDecimal or BigDecimal[] objects depending * on getCardinality(). */ final int BIGDECIMAL = 10; /** * The BOOLEAN(11) type. * * Attributes of this type should be stored as Boolean, * Vector with Boolean or boolean[] objects depending * on getCardinality(). */ final int BOOLEAN = 11; /** * Get the name of the attribute. This name may be * localized. * * @return The localized name of the definition. */ String getName(); /** * Unique identity for this attribute. * * Attributes share a global namespace in the registry. E.g. * an attribute cn or commonName must always be a String * and the semantics are always a name of some object. They * share this aspect with LDAP/X.500 attributes. In these * standards the OSI Object Identifier (OID) is used to uniquely * identify an attribute. If such an OID exists, (which can be requested * at several standard organisations and many companies already have * a node in the tree) it can be returned here. Otherwise, a unique * id should be returned which can be a Java class name (reverse * domain name) or generated with a GUID algorithm. Note that all * LDAP defined attributes already have an OID. It is * strongly advised to define the attributes from existing * LDAP schemes which will give the OID. Many such * schemes exist ranging from postal addresses to DHCP parameters. * * @return The id or oid */ String getID(); /** * Return a description of this attribute. * * The description may be localized and must describe * the semantics of this type and any constraints. * * @return The localized description of the definition. */ String getDescription(); /** * Return the cardinality of this attribute. * * The OSGi environment handles multi valued * attributes in arrays ([]) or in Vector objects. The * return value is defined as follows: *
* x = Integer.MIN_VALUE no limit, but use Vector * x < 0 -x = max occurrences, store in Vector * x > 0 x = max occurrences, store in array [] * x = Integer.MAX_VALUE no limit, but use array [] * x = 0 1 occurrence required **/ int getCardinality(); /** * Return the type for this attribute. *
Defined in the * following constants which map to the appropriate Java type. * STRING, LONG, INTEGER, CHAR, * BYTE, DOUBLE, FLOAT, BIGINTEGER, * BIGDECIMAL, BOOLEAN. */ int getType(); /** * Return a list of option values that this attribute can take. * *
If the function returns null, there are no option values available. * *
Each value must be acceptable to validate() (return "") and * must be a String object that can be converted to the data type * defined by getType() for this attribute. * *
This list must be in the same sequence as getOptionLabels(). * I.e. for each index i in getOptionValues, i in getOptionLabels() * should be the label. * *
For example, if an attribute can have the value male, female, unknown, * this list can return new String[] { "male", "female", "unknown" }. * * @return A list values */ String[] getOptionValues(); /** * Return a list of labels of option values. * *
The purpose of this method is to allow menus with localized labels. It * is associated with getOptionValues. The labels returned here are * ordered in the same way as the values in that method. * *
If the function returns null, there are no option labels available. *
This list must be in the same sequence as the getOptionValues() method. * I.e. for each index i in getOptionLabels, i in getOptionValues() * should be the associated value. * *
For example, if an attribute can have the value male, female, unknown, * this list can return (for dutch) new String[] { "Man", "Vrouw", "Onbekend" }. * * @return A list values */ String[] getOptionLabels(); /** * Validate an attribute in String form. * * An attribute might be further constrained in value. This method * will attempt to validate the attribute according to these * constraints. It can return three different values: *
* null no validation present * "" no problems detected * "..." A localized description of why the value is wrong ** @param value The value before turning it into the basic data type * @return null, "", or another string */ String validate( String value ); /** * Return a default for this attribute. * * The object must be of the appropriate type as defined * by the cardinality and getType(). The return type is a list * of String objects that can be converted to the appropriate type. * The cardinality of the return array must follow the * absolute cardinality of this type. E.g. if the cardinality = 0, the * array must contain 1 element. If the cardinality is 1, it * must contain 0 or 1 elements. If it is -5, it must contain * from 0 to max 5 elements. Note that the special case of a 0 cardinality, * meaning a single value, does not allow arrays or vectors of 0 elements. * * @return Return a default value or null if no default exists. */ String [] getDefaultValue(); }