de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema
Interface Topic

All Superinterfaces:

Attributeable, Commentatable, Comparable, Concept, Createable, Rateable, Serializable, Versionable

All Known Implementing Classes:

TopicImpl

public interface Topic

extends Concept, Attributeable, Serializable, Comparable

This interface repesents a topic, the main element of the ontology.

Version:

2006-06-14

Author:

Thomas Much

See Also:

OntologyManager.createTopic(User, String, String, Topic), OntologyManager.createClassTopic(User, String, String, Topic), OntologyManager.createInternalTopic(User, String, String, Topic)

Method Summary

Occurrence	addOccurrence(User adder, String data, Topic type) Creates an occurrence for this topic with the given type and value (data).
SuperSubclass	addSuperclass(User adder, Topic cls) Adds a superclass to this topic.
Synonym	addSynonym(User adder, Topic synonym) Adds another topic as a synonym to this topic (and vice versa).
TypeInstance	addType(User adder, Topic type) Adds a type to this topic.
Collection	getAssociations(User user) Returns a collection of Association objects in which this topic plays a role.
Collection	getInstances(User user) Returns a collection of TypeInstance objects containing the instances of this type (class) topic.
Occurrence	getOccurrence(User user, String id) Queries an occurrence of this topic with the given id.
Collection	getOccurrences(Topic type) Returns a collection of all Occurrence objects of a certain type for this topic.
Collection	getOccurrences(User user) Returns a collection of all Occurrence objects for this topic.
Collection	getSubclasses(User user) Returns a collection of SuperSubclass objects containing the subclasses of this class topic.
SuperSubclass	getSuperclass(User user, String id) Queries a superclass of this topic with the given id.
Collection	getSuperclasses(User user) Returns a collection of SuperSubclass objects containing the superclasses of this class topic.
Synonym	getSynonym(User user, String id) Queries a synonym of this topic with the given id.
Collection	getSynonyms(User user) Returns a collection of all Synonym objects for this topic.
TypeInstance	getType(User user, String id) Queries a type with the given id of this instance topic.
Collection	getTypes(User user) Returns a collection of TypeInstance objects containing the types of this instance topic.
boolean	isClassTopic() Checks if this topic is a class topic.
boolean	isSynonymous(Topic topic) Checks if the given topic is synonymous with this topic.
void	removeOccurrence(User remover, Occurrence occ) Removes an occurrence from this topic.
void	removeSuperclass(User remover, Topic cls) Removes a superclass from this class topic.
void	removeSynonym(User remover, Topic synonym) Removes a synonymous topic from this topic (and vice versa).
void	removeType(User remover, Topic type) Removes a type from this topic.
void	setClassTopic(boolean isclass) Controls the class flag, i.e. if the topic is a class or an instance topic.

Methods inherited from interface de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema.Concept

getId, getName, isOfType, setName

Methods inherited from interface de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema.Versionable

getVersion

Methods inherited from interface de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema.Commentatable

getComment, setComment

Methods inherited from interface de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema.Rateable

addRating, getAverageRatingValue, getRating, getRatings, getRatingsCount

Methods inherited from interface de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema.Createable

getCreator

Methods inherited from interface java.lang.Comparable

compareTo

Methods inherited from interface de.uka.ipd.consensus.foundation.schema.Attributeable

addAttribute, getAttribute, getAttributes, getAttributes, removeAttribute

Method Detail

getAssociations

public Collection getAssociations(User user)

Returns a collection of Association objects in which this topic plays a role.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the associations

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

Association, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewAssociation(User, Association), QueryEngine.getAssociations(User, Topic)

getType

public TypeInstance getType(User user,
                            String id)

Queries a type with the given id of this instance topic.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the type

id - the queried id

Returns:

a TypeInstance object containing the type or null if there's no type with the given id

See Also:

DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic), getSuperclass(User, String)

getTypes

public Collection getTypes(User user)

Returns a collection of TypeInstance objects containing the types of this instance topic.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the types

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

TypeInstance, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic), QueryEngine.getTypes(User, Topic), getSuperclasses(User)

getInstances

public Collection getInstances(User user)

Returns a collection of TypeInstance objects containing the instances of this type (class) topic.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the instances

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

TypeInstance, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic), QueryEngine.getInstances(User, Topic), isClassTopic(), getSubclasses(User)

addType

public TypeInstance addType(User adder,
                            Topic type)
                     throws OntologyManagerException,
                            DynamicRightsManagerException

Adds a type to this topic. If the implementation supports classes, the type must be a class topic.

Parameters:

adder - the user who wants to add the type

type - the type topic to be added (must not be null)

Returns:

a TypeInstance object containing the type topic

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the type could not be added

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to add a type

See Also:

isClassTopic(), DynamicRightsManager.mayAddType(User, Topic), addSuperclass(User, Topic)

removeType

public void removeType(User remover,
                       Topic type)
                throws OntologyManagerException,
                       DynamicRightsManagerException

Removes a type from this topic. If the given type is no type of this topic, this call has no effect.

Parameters:

remover - the user who wants to remove the type

type - the type to be removed

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the type could not be removed

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to remove the type

See Also:

TypeInstance, DynamicRightsManager.mayRemoveType(User, TypeInstance), removeSuperclass(User, Topic)

addOccurrence

public Occurrence addOccurrence(User adder,
                                String data,
                                Topic type)
                         throws OntologyManagerException,
                                DynamicRightsManagerException

Creates an occurrence for this topic with the given type and value (data). If the implementation supports classes, the type must be a class topic.

Parameters:

adder - the user who wants to create the occurrence

data - the value of the occurrence (null is treated as the empty string)

type - the type of the occurrence, including null for a typeless occurrence

Returns:

the newly created Occurrence object

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if a new occurrence could not be created

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to create occurrences

See Also:

isClassTopic(), DynamicRightsManager.mayChangeOccurrence(User)

removeOccurrence

public void removeOccurrence(User remover,
                             Occurrence occ)
                      throws OntologyManagerException,
                             DynamicRightsManagerException

Removes an occurrence from this topic.

Parameters:

remover - the user who wants to remove the occurrence.

occ - the occurrence to be removed

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the occurrence could not be removed

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to remove occurrences

See Also:

DynamicRightsManager.mayChangeOccurrence(User)

getOccurrences

public Collection getOccurrences(User user)

Returns a collection of all Occurrence objects for this topic. The collection contains only occurrences whose type the user is allowed to see.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the occurrences.

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

Occurrence, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic)

getOccurrences

public Collection getOccurrences(Topic type)

Returns a collection of all Occurrence objects of a certain type for this topic.

Parameters:

type - the type of the occurrences

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

Occurrence

getOccurrence

public Occurrence getOccurrence(User user,
                                String id)

Queries an occurrence of this topic with the given id.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the occurrence

id - the queried id

Returns:

the occurrence or null if there's no occurrence with the given id for this topic

See Also:

Occurrence.getId(), DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic)

addSynonym

public Synonym addSynonym(User adder,
                          Topic synonym)
                   throws OntologyManagerException,
                          DynamicRightsManagerException

Adds another topic as a synonym to this topic (and vice versa).

Parameters:

adder - the user who wants to add the synonym

synonym - the synonymous topic to be added (not null, not this topic itself)

Returns:

a Synonym object containing the two synonymous topics

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the synonymous topic could not be added

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to add synonyms

See Also:

DynamicRightsManager.mayAddSynonym(User, Topic)

removeSynonym

public void removeSynonym(User remover,
                          Topic synonym)
                   throws OntologyManagerException,
                          DynamicRightsManagerException

Removes a synonymous topic from this topic (and vice versa).

Parameters:

remover - the user who wants to remove the synonymous topic

synonym - the synonymous topic to be removed

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the synonymous topic could not be removed

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to remove the synonymous topic

See Also:

Synonym, DynamicRightsManager.mayRemoveSynonym(User, Synonym)

getSynonyms

public Collection getSynonyms(User user)

Returns a collection of all Synonym objects for this topic. The collection contains only synonymous topics the user is allowed to see.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the synonyms

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

Synonym, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic)

getSynonym

public Synonym getSynonym(User user,
                          String id)

Queries a synonym of this topic with the given id.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the synonym

id - the queried id

Returns:

a Synonym object containing the two synonymous topics or null if there's no synonym with the given id

See Also:

DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic)

isSynonymous

public boolean isSynonymous(Topic topic)

Checks if the given topic is synonymous with this topic.

Parameters:

topic - the topic in question

Returns:

true if the two topics are synonymous, false otherwise

getSuperclass

public SuperSubclass getSuperclass(User user,
                                   String id)

Queries a superclass of this topic with the given id. If this topic is not a class or if the implementation does not support classes at all, null is returned.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the superclass

id - the queried id

Returns:

a SuperSubclass object containing the superclass topic or null if there's no superclass with the given id

See Also:

DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic), isClassTopic(), getType(User, String)

getSuperclasses

public Collection getSuperclasses(User user)

Returns a collection of SuperSubclass objects containing the superclasses of this class topic. If this topic is not a class or if the implementation does not support classes at all, an empty collection is returned.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the superclasses

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

SuperSubclass, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic), QueryEngine.getSuperclasses(User, Topic), getTypes(User)

getSubclasses

public Collection getSubclasses(User user)

Returns a collection of SuperSubclass objects containing the subclasses of this class topic. If this topic is not a class or if the implementation does not support classes at all, an empty collection is returned.

Parameters:

user - the user who wants to see the subclasses

Returns:

a possibly empty collection, never null

See Also:

SuperSubclass, DynamicRightsManager.mayViewTopic(User, Topic), QueryEngine.getSubclasses(User, Topic), getInstances(User)

addSuperclass

public SuperSubclass addSuperclass(User adder,
                                   Topic cls)
                            throws OntologyManagerException,
                                   DynamicRightsManagerException

Adds a superclass to this topic. Both topics must be class topics.

Parameters:

adder - the user who wants to add the superclass

cls - the superclass topic to be added (must not be null)

Returns:

a SuperSubclass object containing the superclass topic

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the superclass could not be added

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to add a superclass

UnsupportedOperationException - if the implementation does not support classes

See Also:

isClassTopic(), DynamicRightsManager.mayAddClass(User, Topic), addType(User, Topic)

removeSuperclass

public void removeSuperclass(User remover,
                             Topic cls)
                      throws OntologyManagerException,
                             DynamicRightsManagerException

Removes a superclass from this class topic.

Parameters:

remover - the user who wants to remove the superclass

cls - the superclass topic to be removed

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the superclass could not be removed

DynamicRightsManagerException - if the user is not allowed to remove the superclass

UnsupportedOperationException - if the implementation does not support classes

See Also:

isClassTopic(), DynamicRightsManager.mayRemoveClass(User, SuperSubclass), removeType(User, Topic)

setClassTopic

public void setClassTopic(boolean isclass)
                   throws OntologyManagerException

Controls the class flag, i.e. if the topic is a class or an instance topic.

You can use this method explicitely if the implementation is not configured to use classes, but usually you'll let the implementation decide which topics are classes by how the topics are created.

Parameters:

isclass - true if the topic shall be a class topic, false if it shall be an instance topic

Throws:

OntologyManagerException - if the class flag could not be changed

See Also:

OntologyManager.createClassTopic(User, String, String, Topic), isClassTopic()

isClassTopic

public boolean isClassTopic()

Checks if this topic is a class topic.

Returns:

true if this topic is a class topic, false otherwise

See Also:

setClassTopic(boolean)