org.mmbase.bridge
Interface RelationManager

All Superinterfaces:

NodeManager

All Known Implementing Classes:

BasicRelationManager

public interface RelationManager

extends NodeManager

This interface represents a relation constraint (or contex, if you like). More specifically, it represents a relation manager (itself a node manager) as it applies between bnode 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 therefor not a real mmbase 'object' in itself - it exists of two objects joined together.

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

ORDER_CREATE, ORDER_EDIT, ORDER_LIST, ORDER_SEARCH

Method Summary

Relation	createRelation(Node sourceNode, Node destinationNode) Adds a relation from this type.
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).
java.lang.String	getForwardRole() Retrieves the role of the source to the destination
java.lang.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.

Methods inherited from interface org.mmbase.bridge.NodeManager

createNode, getCloud, getDescription, getField, getFields, getFields, getGUIName, getInfo, getInfo, getList, getList, getList, getName, mayCreateNode

Field Detail

UNIDIRECTIONAL

public static final int UNIDIRECTIONAL

Directionality constant : uni-directional

BIDIRECTIONAL

public static final int BIDIRECTIONAL

Directionality constant : bi-directional

Method Detail

getForwardRole

public java.lang.String getForwardRole()

Retrieves the role of the source to the destination

Returns:

the role as a String

getReciprocalRole

public java.lang.String getReciprocalRole()

Retrieves the role of the destination to the source

Returns:

the role as a String

getDirectionality

public int getDirectionality()

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

Returns:

one of the directionality constants

getSourceManager

public NodeManager getSourceManager()

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

Returns:

the source NodeManager

getDestinationManager

public NodeManager getDestinationManager()

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

Returns:

the destination NodeManager

createRelation

public 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

getRelations

public RelationList getRelations(Node node)

Retrieves all the relations of this type from a given node.

Parameters:

node - the node from which to give the relations

Returns:

a list of relations