alfresco-community-repo/source/java/org/alfresco/service/cmr/dictionary/DictionaryService.java

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2005 Alfresco, Inc.
 *
 * Licensed under the Mozilla Public License version 1.1 
 * with a permitted attribution clause. You may obtain a
 * copy of the License at
 *
 *   http://www.alfresco.org/legal/license.txt
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
 * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
 * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND,
 * either express or implied. See the License for the specific
 * language governing permissions and limitations under the
 * License.
 */
package org.alfresco.service.cmr.dictionary;

import java.util.Collection;

import org.alfresco.service.namespace.QName;


/**
 * This interface represents the Repository Data Dictionary.  The
 * dictionary provides access to content meta-data such as Type
 * and Aspect descriptions.
 *
 * Content meta-data is organised into models where each model is
 * given a qualified name.  This means that it is safe to develop
 * independent models and bring them together into the same
 * Repository without name clashes (as long their namespace is
 * different). 
 * 
 * @author David Caruana
 */
public interface DictionaryService
{

    /**
     * @return the names of all models that have been registered with the Repository
     */
    public Collection<QName> getAllModels();
    
    /**
     * @param model the model name to retrieve
     * @return the specified model (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    public ModelDefinition getModel(QName model);

    /**
     * @return the names of all data types that have been registered with the Repository
     */
    Collection<QName> getAllDataTypes();

    /**
     * @param model the model to retrieve data types for
     * @return the names of all data types defined within the specified model
     */
    Collection<QName> getDataTypes(QName model);
    
    /**
     * @param name the name of the data type to retrieve
     * @return the data type definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    DataTypeDefinition getDataType(QName name);
    
    /**
     * @param javaClass  java class to find datatype for
     * @return  the data type definition (or null, if a mapping does not exist) 
     */
    DataTypeDefinition getDataType(Class javaClass);

    /**
     * @return the names of all types that have been registered with the Repository
     */
    Collection<QName> getAllTypes();
    
    /**
     * @param model the model to retrieve types for
     * @return the names of all types defined within the specified model
     */
    Collection<QName> getTypes(QName model);

    /**
     * @param name the name of the type to retrieve
     * @return the type definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    TypeDefinition getType(QName name);

    /**
     * Construct an anonymous type that combines the definitions of the specified
     * type and aspects.
     *
     * @param type the type to start with 
     * @param aspects the aspects to combine with the type
     * @return the anonymous type definition
     */
    TypeDefinition getAnonymousType(QName type, Collection<QName> aspects);

    /**
     * @return the names of all aspects that have been registered with the Repository
     */
    Collection<QName> getAllAspects();
    
    /**
     * @param model the model to retrieve aspects for
     * @return the names of all aspects defined within the specified model
     */
    Collection<QName> getAspects(QName model);

    /**
     * @param name the name of the aspect to retrieve
     * @return the aspect definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    AspectDefinition getAspect(QName name);

    /**
     * @param name the name of the class (type or aspect) to retrieve
     * @return the class definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    ClassDefinition getClass(QName name);
    
    /**
     * Determines whether a class is a sub-class of another class
     * 
     * @param className the sub-class to test
     * @param ofClassName the class to test against
     * @return true => the class is a sub-class (or itself)
     */
    boolean isSubClass(QName className, QName ofClassName);

    /**
     * Gets the definition of the property as defined by the specified Class.
     * 
     * Note: A sub-class may override the definition of a property that's 
     *       defined in a super-class.
     * 
     * @param className the class name
     * @param propertyName the property name
     * @return the property definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    PropertyDefinition getProperty(QName className, QName propertyName);

    /**
     * Gets the definition of the property as defined by its owning Class.
     * 
     * @param propertyName the property name
     * @return the property definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    PropertyDefinition getProperty(QName propertyName);

    /**
     * Gets the definition of the association as defined by its owning Class.
     * 
     * @param associationName the property name
     * @return the association definition (or null, if it doesn't exist)
     */
    AssociationDefinition getAssociation(QName associationName);
    
    // TODO: Behaviour definitions
    
}