001: /* ====================================================================
002: * The Jcorporate Apache Style Software License, Version 1.2 05-07-2002
003: *
004: * Copyright (c) 1995-2002 Jcorporate Ltd. All rights reserved.
005: *
006: * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
007: * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
008: * are met:
009: *
010: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
011: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
012: *
013: * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
014: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
015: * the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
016: * distribution.
017: *
018: * 3. The end-user documentation included with the redistribution,
019: * if any, must include the following acknowledgment:
020: * "This product includes software developed by Jcorporate Ltd.
021: * (http://www.jcorporate.com/)."
022: * Alternately, this acknowledgment may appear in the software itself,
023: * if and wherever such third-party acknowledgments normally appear.
024: *
025: * 4. "Jcorporate" and product names such as "Expresso" must
026: * not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
027: * software without prior written permission. For written permission,
028: * please contact info@jcorporate.com.
029: *
030: * 5. Products derived from this software may not be called "Expresso",
031: * or other Jcorporate product names; nor may "Expresso" or other
032: * Jcorporate product names appear in their name, without prior
033: * written permission of Jcorporate Ltd.
034: *
035: * 6. No product derived from this software may compete in the same
036: * market space, i.e. framework, without prior written permission
037: * of Jcorporate Ltd. For written permission, please contact
038: * partners@jcorporate.com.
039: *
040: * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED
041: * WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
042: * OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
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046: * TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF
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050: * OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
051: * SUCH DAMAGE.
052: * ====================================================================
053: *
054: * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
055: * individuals on behalf of the Jcorporate Ltd. Contributions back
056: * to the project(s) are encouraged when you make modifications.
057: * Please send them to support@jcorporate.com. For more information
058: * on Jcorporate Ltd. and its products, please see
059: * <http://www.jcorporate.com/>.
060: *
061: * Portions of this software are based upon other open source
062: * products and are subject to their respective licenses.
063: */
064:
065: package com.jcorporate.expresso.core.dataobjects;
066:
067: /**
068: * Nestable indicates that the derived class includes nested data objects.
069: * <p>While
070: * the dataobject 'cluster' should be able to be acted on as a single unit,
071: * once in a while, it is necessary to get at the internal or "nested"
072: * data objects. </p>
073: * <p>An example of the Nestable usage is in
074: * <code>com.jcorporate.expresso.services.controller.dbmaint.ViewBlob</code>
075: * in conjunction with a
076: * <code>com.jcorporate.expresso.cores.dataobjects.jdbc.JoinedDataObject</code>.
077: * The ViewBlob routine needs to get to the low-level JDBC data objects rather
078: * than operate on the join as a whole. Since JoinedDataObject implements the
079: * <code>Nestable</code> interface. It is then possible to work with the underlying
080: * JDBCDataObjects in the join.
081: * </p>
082: *
083: * @author Michael Rimov
084: */
085: public interface NestableDataObject {
086:
087: /**
088: * Retrieves a nested dataobject based upon the public field name that
089: * the DataObject publishes. For example, in JoinedDataObjects, the field
090: * name ""abcd.efgh" represents DataObject 'abcd', and field name
091: * 'efgh'.
092: * <p>The actual usage of the naming convention will differ from the, thus
093: * you'll need to use getMetaData().getFieldList() to get the names of the
094: * fields of a <code>Nestable</code> object to get a valid field Name</p>
095: *
096: * @param fieldName the full field name to get the nested data object.
097: * @return DataObject or possibly null.
098: * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the field name does not map to any
099: * DataObject
100: */
101: public DataObject getNestedFromFieldName(String fieldName);
102:
103: /**
104: * Often times, field names for the external interface will be different
105: * from the of a nested field name in a data object. Use this function
106: * to get the internal field name for the DataObject returned by
107: * <code>getNestedFromFieldName()</code>
108: *
109: * @param fieldName The external name of the field
110: * @return java.lang.String, the field corresponding to the field name
111: * of the data object
112: * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the given field name cannot map
113: * to a field.
114: */
115: public String getFieldFromNestedName(String fieldName);
116:
117: /**
118: * Retrieve an array of all nested data objects. May be empty if there
119: * are no nested data objects. Ordering is undefined by this function.
120: *
121: * @return Array of DataObjects. Should never return null.
122: */
123: public DataObject[] getAllNested();
124:
125: }
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