org.mmbase.bridge
Interface RelationManager

All Superinterfaces:

Comparable<Node>, Node, NodeManager

All Known Implementing Classes:

BasicRelationManager, MockRelationManager

public interface RelationManager
extends NodeManager

This interface represents a relation constraint. More specifically, it represents a relation manager (itself a node manager) as it applies between a node belonging to two other node managers. Some of the information here is retrieved from the NodeManager used to build the catual relation node (the data as described in the xml builder config file). This NodeManager is also referred to as the parent. Other data is retrieved from a special (hidden) object that decsribes what relations apply between two nodes. (formerly known as the TypeRel builder). This includes direction and cardinality, and the NodeManagers of nodes itself. These fields cannot be changed except through the use of an administration module. This interface is therefore not a real mmbase 'object' in itself - it exists of two objects joined together.

Version:

$Id: RelationManager.java 40471 2010-01-11 16:58:52Z michiel $

Author:

Rob Vermeulen, Pierre van Rooden

Field Summary

static int	BIDIRECTIONAL Directionality constant : bi-directional
static int	UNIDIRECTIONAL Directionality constant : uni-directional

Fields inherited from interface org.mmbase.bridge.NodeManager

GUI_PLURAL, GUI_SINGULAR, ORDER_CREATE, ORDER_EDIT, ORDER_LIST, ORDER_NONE, ORDER_SEARCH

Fields inherited from interface org.mmbase.bridge.Node

CLOUD_COMMITNODE_KEY

Method Summary

Relation	createRelation(Node sourceNode, Node destinationNode) Adds a relation from this type.
Relation	createRelation(Node sourceNode, RelationManager relationManager) This method from Node is redeclared here to prevent an ambiguous invocation of method.
NodeManager	getDestinationManager() Retrieves the type of node that can act as the destination of a relation of this type.
int	getDirectionality() Retrieves the directionality for this type (the default assigned to a new relation).
String	getForwardGUIName() Retrieves the gui name (prompt) of the role from source to destination
String	getForwardRole() Retrieves the role of the source to the destination
String	getReciprocalGUIName() Retrieves the gui name (prompt) of the role from destination to source
String	getReciprocalRole() Retrieves the role of the destination to the source
RelationList	getRelations(Node node) Retrieves all the relations of this type from a given node.
NodeManager	getSourceManager() Retrieves the NodeManager of node that can act as the source of a relation of this type.
boolean	mayCreateRelation(Node sourceNode, Node destinationNode) Check if the current user may create a new relation of this type between the specified nodes.

Methods inherited from interface org.mmbase.bridge.NodeManager

createFieldList, createNode, createNodeList, createQuery, createRelationList, getAllowedRelations, getAllowedRelations, getAllowedRelations, getCloud, getDescendants, getDescription, getDescription, getField, getFields, getFields, getGUIName, getGUIName, getGUIName, getInfo, getInfo, getList, getList, getList, getList, getName, getParent, getProperties, getProperty, hasField, mayCreateNode

Methods inherited from interface org.mmbase.bridge.Node

cancel, commit, countRelatedNodes, countRelatedNodes, countRelations, countRelations, createAlias, createParameters, delete, delete, deleteAlias, deleteRelations, deleteRelations, getAliases, getBooleanValue, getByteValue, getChanged, getContext, getDateValue, getDecimalValue, getDoubleValue, getFieldValue, getFieldValue, getFloatValue, getFunction, getFunctions, getFunctionValue, getInputStreamValue, getIntValue, getListValue, getLongValue, getNodeManager, getNodeValue, getNumber, getObjectValue, getPossibleContexts, getRelatedNodes, getRelatedNodes, getRelatedNodes, getRelatedNodes, getRelatedNodes, getRelations, getRelations, getRelations, getRelations, getRelations, getSize, getStringValue, getValue, getValueWithoutProcess, getXMLValue, getXMLValue, hasRelations, isChanged, isChanged, isNew, isNodeManager, isNull, isRelation, isRelationManager, mayChangeContext, mayDelete, mayWrite, setBooleanValue, setByteValue, setContext, setDateValue, setDecimalValue, setDoubleValue, setFloatValue, setInputStreamValue, setIntValue, setListValue, setLongValue, setNodeManager, setNodeValue, setObjectValue, setStringValue, setValue, setValueWithoutProcess, setXMLValue, toNodeManager, toRelation, toRelationManager, toString, validate

Methods inherited from interface java.lang.Comparable

compareTo

Field Detail

UNIDIRECTIONAL

static final int UNIDIRECTIONAL

Directionality constant : uni-directional

See Also:

Constant Field Values

BIDIRECTIONAL

static final int BIDIRECTIONAL

Directionality constant : bi-directional

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

getForwardRole

String getForwardRole()

Retrieves the role of the source to the destination

Returns:

the role as a String

getReciprocalRole

String getReciprocalRole()

Retrieves the role of the destination to the source

Returns:

the role as a String

getForwardGUIName

String getForwardGUIName()

Retrieves the gui name (prompt) of the role from source to destination

Returns:

the name as a String

getReciprocalGUIName

String getReciprocalGUIName()

Retrieves the gui name (prompt) of the role from destination to source

Returns:

the name as a String

getDirectionality

int getDirectionality()

Retrieves the directionality for this type (the default assigned to a new relation).

Returns:

one of the directionality constants

getSourceManager

NodeManager getSourceManager()

Retrieves the NodeManager of node that can act as the source of a relation of this type.

Returns:

the source NodeManager

getDestinationManager

NodeManager getDestinationManager()

Retrieves the type of node that can act as the destination of a relation of this type.

Returns:

the destination NodeManager

createRelation

Relation createRelation(Node sourceNode,
                        Node destinationNode)

Adds a relation from this type.

Parameters:

sourceNode - the node from which you want to relate

destinationNode - the node to which you want to relate

Returns:

the added relation

createRelation

Relation createRelation(Node sourceNode,
                        RelationManager relationManager)

This method from Node is redeclared here to prevent an ambiguous invocation of method. reason: the the method in the base class (Node) is more specific than the one in the RelationManager (RelationManager extends Node).

Specified by:

createRelation in interface Node

Parameters:

sourceNode - source node of the relation

relationManager - relation manager of the relation

Returns:

new Relation

getRelations

RelationList getRelations(Node node)

Retrieves all the relations of this type from a given node. This method returns all relations of a certain node not considering role, source manager and destination manager, but only the builder of relation (e.g. it queries either insrel, or an extension thereof). See Node.getRelations(String, NodeManager, String).

Parameters:

node - the node from which to give the relations

Returns:

a list of relations

To Do:

I think this is a silly method.

mayCreateRelation

boolean mayCreateRelation(Node sourceNode,
                          Node destinationNode)

Check if the current user may create a new relation of this type between the specified nodes.

Parameters:

sourceNode - source node of the relation

destinationNode - destination node of the relation

Returns:

Check if the current user may create a new relation of this type between the specified nodes.