org.nuxeo.ecm.core.schema.types
Interface Type

All Superinterfaces:

Serializable, ValueConverter

All Known Subinterfaces:

ComplexType, CompositeType, DocumentType, ListType, Schema, SimpleType

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractType, AnyType, BinaryType, BooleanType, ComplexTypeImpl, CompositeTypeImpl, DateType, DocumentTypeImpl, DoubleType, IntegerType, ListTypeImpl, LongType, PrimitiveType, SchemaImpl, SimpleTypeImpl, StringType

public interface Type
extends Serializable, ValueConverter

A Type object is used to describe some ECM content.

There are two groups of content types:

• primitive types - these are builtin types used to describe simple values like string, integers, dates etc
• custom types - these are used defined types based on the primitive types

Custom types are structured in two groups:

• simple types - constrained primitive types. Constraints are specific to each primitive type.
  For example the "string" type may have constraints like maximum length, regular expression pattern etc.
  So you can define a custom simple type as being a string that match the regular expression .+@.+
• complex types - structured types that can be expressed as a tree like structure of other primitive, simple or complex types.

The typing system is mainly inspired from XML schemas.

There is a root type called ANY type.
Apart this special type, each type has a super type (a type from which it is derived)

On top of this typing system there are two high level content types:

• schemas - a schema is a complex that can be used to form composite types
  Because multiple schemas may live together in a composite type they must provide a namespace to avoid name collisions inside a composite type
• composite types - a composite type is made of several schemas.
  You can see a composite type as a type derived from multiple complex super types.
  Composite types are used to define ECM documents

Type names must not contains a : character. This character may be used internally to prefix the type name so it must not be used in the type name.

Author:

Bogdan Stefanescu

Field Summary

static AnyType

ANY

Method Summary

Object	decode(String string) Decodes the string representation into an object of this type.
String	encode(Object object) Encodes the given object that is assumed to be of this type into a string representation.
TypeHelper	getHelper() Get the type helper.
String	getName() Gets the name of this type.
TypeRef<? extends Type>	getRef() Gets a proxy (or reference to this type).
Schema	getSchema() Gets the schema defining this type.
String	getSchemaName() Gets the local name of this type.
Type	getSuperType() Gets the super type.
Type[]	getTypeHierarchy() Gets the entire hierarchy of super-types.
boolean	isAnyType() Tests whether this type is the ANY type.
boolean	isComplexType() Tests whether this type is a complex type.
boolean	isCompositeType() Tests whether this is a composite type.
boolean	isListType() Tests whether this type is a list type.
boolean	isNotNull() Tests whether this type supports null values.
boolean	isReadOnly() Tests whether this type is read-only.
boolean	isSimpleType() Tests whether this type is a simple type.
boolean	isSuperTypeOf(Type type) Tests whether the given type is derived from this type.
Object	newInstance() Creates a new instance according to this type and filled with default values.
boolean	validate(Object object) Tests whether the given object is of this type.

Methods inherited from interface org.nuxeo.ecm.core.schema.types.ValueConverter

convert

Field Detail

ANY

static final AnyType ANY

Method Detail

getName

String getName()

Gets the name of this type.

Returns:

the type name

getSchemaName

String getSchemaName()

Gets the local name of this type.

Returns:

the local name

getSchema

Schema getSchema()

Gets the schema defining this type.

Returns:

getHelper

TypeHelper getHelper()

Get the type helper. Must never return null

The type helper is used to handle operations on value of that type.

Returns:

the type helper

getRef

TypeRef<? extends Type> getRef()

Gets a proxy (or reference to this type).

Returns:

a reference to the type

getSuperType

Type getSuperType()

Gets the super type.

Returns:

the super type or null if this is a primitive type

getTypeHierarchy

Type[] getTypeHierarchy()

Gets the entire hierarchy of super-types.

The array is ordered as follows:

• the direct super type is the first element,
• the super super type is the second element,
• and so on.

The returned array is never null. An empty array is returned in the case of ANY type.

Returns:

an array containing the supertypes of this type

isSuperTypeOf

boolean isSuperTypeOf(Type type)

Tests whether the given type is derived from this type.

Parameters:

type - the type to test

Returns:

true if the given type is derived from this type, false otherwise

isSimpleType

boolean isSimpleType()

Tests whether this type is a simple type.

Returns:

true if this type is a simple type, false otherwise

isComplexType

boolean isComplexType()

Tests whether this type is a complex type.

Returns:

true if this type is a complex type, false otherwise

isListType

boolean isListType()

Tests whether this type is a list type.

Returns:

true if is a list type, false otherwise

isAnyType

boolean isAnyType()

Tests whether this type is the ANY type.

Returns:

true if it is the ANY type, false otherwise

isCompositeType

boolean isCompositeType()

Tests whether this is a composite type.

Returns:

true if this is a composite type, false otherwise

isNotNull

boolean isNotNull()

Tests whether this type supports null values.

Returns:

false if an object of this type can be null, true otherwise

isReadOnly

boolean isReadOnly()

Tests whether this type is read-only.

Returns:

true if an object of this type cannot be modified, false otherwise

validate

boolean validate(Object object)
                 throws TypeException

Tests whether the given object is of this type.

Parameters:

object - the object to test

Returns:

true if the given object if of this type, false otherwise

Throws:

TypeException - if an error occurs trying to retrieve the supertypes

decode

Object decode(String string)

Decodes the string representation into an object of this type.

Returns null if the string can not be decoded.

Parameters:

string - the string to decode

Returns:

the converted object that can be use as a value for an object of this type or null if the given object cannot be converted

encode

String encode(Object object)

Encodes the given object that is assumed to be of this type into a string representation.

Null is returned if the object cannot be converted.

Parameters:

object - the object to convert

Returns:

the string representation of the given object or null if object cannot be converted

newInstance

Object newInstance()

Creates a new instance according to this type and filled with default values.

Returns: