org.sakaiproject.entitybroker.entityprovider.extension
Interface PropertiesProvider

All Known Subinterfaces:

EntityBroker, PropertyProvideable

public interface PropertiesProvider

This simple defines the methods correctly which are shared between a set of interfaces, see PropertyProvideable for more information

Author:

Aaron Zeckoski (aaronz@vt.edu)

Method Summary

List<String>	findEntityRefs(String[] prefixes, String[] name, String[] searchValue, boolean exactMatch) Allows searching for entities by meta property values, at least one of the params (prefix, name, searchValue) must be set in order to do a search, (searches which return all references to all entities with properties are not allowed) WARNING: this search is very fast but will not actually limit by properties that are placed on the entity itself or return the entity itself and is not a substitute for an API which allows searches of your entities (e.g List getYourStuff(Search search); )
Map<String,String>	getProperties(String reference) Retrieve all meta properties for this entity as a map of name->value
String	getPropertyValue(String reference, String name) Retrieve a meta property value for a specific property name on a specific entity
void	setPropertyValue(String reference, String name, String value) Set a meta property value on a specific entity, setting a value to null will remove the related value from persistence, passing the name and value as null will remove all the properties for this entity from persistence Note: Do not use this as a substitute for storing core meta data on your actual persistent entities, this is meant to provide for the case where runtime properties need to be added to an entity, persisted, and later retrieved and should be seen as a lazy way to expand the fields of a persistent entity

Method Detail

getPropertyValue

String getPropertyValue(String reference,
                        String name)

Retrieve a meta property value for a specific property name on a specific entity

Parameters:

reference - a globally unique reference to an entity

name - the name (key) for this property

Returns:

the property value for this name and entity, null if none is set

getProperties

Map<String,String> getProperties(String reference)

Retrieve all meta properties for this entity as a map of name->value

Parameters:

reference - a globally unique reference to an entity

Returns:

a map of String (name) -> String (value)

setPropertyValue

void setPropertyValue(String reference,
                      String name,
                      String value)

Set a meta property value on a specific entity, setting a value to null will remove the related value from persistence, passing the name and value as null will remove all the properties for this entity from persistence
Note: Do not use this as a substitute for storing core meta data on your actual persistent entities, this is meant to provide for the case where runtime properties need to be added to an entity, persisted, and later retrieved and should be seen as a lazy way to expand the fields of a persistent entity

Parameters:

reference - a globally unique reference to an entity

name - the name (key) for this property, if this and the value are set to null then remove all the properties for this entity from persistence

value - the value to store for this property, if null then remove the related value from persistence

findEntityRefs

List<String> findEntityRefs(String[] prefixes,
                            String[] name,
                            String[] searchValue,
                            boolean exactMatch)

Allows searching for entities by meta property values, at least one of the params (prefix, name, searchValue) must be set in order to do a search, (searches which return all references to all entities with properties are not allowed)
WARNING: this search is very fast but will not actually limit by properties that are placed on the entity itself or return the entity itself and is not a substitute for an API which allows searches of your entities (e.g List getYourStuff(Search search); )

Parameters:

prefixes - limit the search to a specific entity prefix or set of prefixes, this must be set and cannot be an empty array

name - limit the property names to search for, can be null to return all names

searchValue - limit the search by property values can be null to return all values, must be the same size as the name array if it is not null, (i.e. this cannot be set without setting at least one name)

exactMatch - if true then only match property values exactly, otherwise use a "like" search

Returns:

a list of entity references for all entities matching the search