1 /**
2 * Copyright 2005-2014 The Kuali Foundation
3 *
4 * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
5 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
6 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
7 *
8 * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php
9 *
10 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14 * limitations under the License.
15 */
16 package org.kuali.rice.krms.api.repository.term;
17
18 import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Identifiable;
19 import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Versioned;
20
21 import java.util.List;
22
23 /**
24 * <p>The contract for a {@link TermDefinition} which defines a term. Conceptually,
25 * a term describes a piece of data used in a proposition, e.g. the total dollar amount of a grant. It is a place
26 * holder, not a specific fact value as the amount will vary between grants.
27 * </p>
28 *
29 * <p> In KRMS' model, a term contains a term specification which specifies some import details about the term.
30 * </p>
31 *
32 * <p>A term may have parameters associated with it. The parameters are intended to be used during term resolution to
33 * reify the fact value for the term. Parameters allow multiple terms to exist for a single specification.
34 * </p>
35 *
36 * @see TermDefinition
37 * @see org.kuali.rice.krms.api.engine.Term
38 * @see TermSpecificationDefinitionContract
39 * @author Kuali Rice Team (rice.collab@kuali.org)
40 */
41 public interface TermDefinitionContract extends Identifiable, Versioned {
42
43 /**
44 * Get the associated {@link TermSpecificationDefinitionContract} which specifies some important details about
45 * the term. Will not be null.
46 *
47 * @return the term specification
48 */
49 TermSpecificationDefinitionContract getSpecification();
50
51 /**
52 * Get the description for this {@link TermDefinitionContract}. May be null.
53 *
54 * @return the description
55 */
56 String getDescription();
57
58 /**
59 * Get any parameters specified on this {@link TermDefinitionContract}. May be empty, but never null.
60 *
61 * @return the term's parameters
62 */
63 List<? extends TermParameterDefinitionContract> getParameters();
64
65 }