001    /**
002     * Copyright 2005-2013 The Kuali Foundation
003     *
004     * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005     * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006     * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007     *
008     * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php
009     *
010     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011     * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012     * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013     * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014     * limitations under the License.
015     */
016    package org.kuali.rice.krms.api.repository.term;
017    
018    import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Identifiable;
019    import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Versioned;
020    
021    import java.util.List;
022    
023    /**
024     * <p>The contract for a {@link TermDefinition} which defines a term.  Conceptually,
025     * a term describes a piece of data used in a proposition, e.g. the total dollar amount of a grant.  It is a place
026     * holder, not a specific fact value as the amount will vary between grants.
027     * </p>
028     *
029     * <p> In KRMS' model, a term contains a term specification which specifies some import details about the term.
030     * </p>
031     *
032     * <p>A term may have parameters associated with it.  The parameters are intended to be used during term resolution to
033     * reify the fact value for the term.  Parameters allow multiple terms to exist for a single specification.
034     * </p>
035     *
036     * @see TermDefinition
037     * @see org.kuali.rice.krms.api.engine.Term
038     * @see TermSpecificationDefinitionContract
039     * @author Kuali Rice Team (rice.collab@kuali.org)
040     */
041    public interface TermDefinitionContract extends Identifiable, Versioned {
042            
043            /**
044         * Get the associated {@link TermSpecificationDefinitionContract} which specifies some important details about
045         * the term.  Will not be null.
046         *
047             * @return the term specification
048             */
049            TermSpecificationDefinitionContract getSpecification();
050    
051        /**
052         * Get the description for this {@link TermDefinitionContract}.  May be null.
053         *
054         * @return the description
055         */
056        String getDescription();
057            
058            /**
059             * Get any parameters specified on this {@link TermDefinitionContract}.  May be empty, but never null.
060         *
061         * @return the term's parameters
062         */
063            List<? extends TermParameterDefinitionContract> getParameters();
064            
065    }