org.kuali.rice.krad.data.metadata

Interface MetadataChild

All Superinterfaces:

MetadataCommon, Serializable

All Known Subinterfaces:

DataObjectCollection, DataObjectRelationship

All Known Implementing Classes:

DataObjectCollectionImpl, DataObjectRelationshipImpl, MetadataChildBase

public interface MetadataChild
extends MetadataCommon

Non-top-level metadata object

Interface shared by all non-top-level metadata objects which link to other persistable objects. This is used as the base interface for 1:1/M:1 Relationships and 1:M/N:M Collections.

Author:

Kuali Rice Team (rice.collab@kuali.org)

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
List<DataObjectAttributeRelationship>	getAttributeRelationships() Gets the parent-child related fields
MetadataChild	getInverseRelationship() Gets bi-directional relationship
String	getParentAttributeNameRelatedToChildAttributeName(String childAttribute) Gets foreign key attribute from parent.
Class<?>	getRelatedType() Gets the type of related object
boolean	isDeletedWithParent() Determines whether this object will be automatically deleted when the containing object is deleted.
boolean	isLoadedAtParentLoadTime() Determines whether object will be loaded with parent
boolean	isLoadedDynamicallyUponUse() Determines whether the object is reloaded automatically with parent
boolean	isSavedWithParent() Determines whether object automatically saved

Methods inherited from interface org.kuali.rice.krad.data.metadata.MetadataCommon

getBackingObjectName, getDescription, getLabel, getMergeAction, getName, getShortLabel, isReadOnly

Method Detail

getRelatedType

Class<?> getRelatedType()

Gets the type of related object

This is the type of the object referenced by this relationship or contained in this collection.

Returns:

type of related object

getAttributeRelationships

List<DataObjectAttributeRelationship> getAttributeRelationships()

Gets the parent-child related fields

Returns the related fields between the parent and child objects.

Returns:

related fields. List must not be empty. There always must be at least one related field.

getInverseRelationship

MetadataChild getInverseRelationship()

Gets bi-directional relationship

If this metadata element is part of a bi-directional relationship, this method returns the other side of the bi-directional relationship.

Returns:

the inverse of this relationship if it is bi-directional, false otherwise

isSavedWithParent

boolean isSavedWithParent()

Determines whether object automatically saved

For related objects, whether this object will be automatically saved when the containing object is persisted.

Returns:

whether object is automatically saved

isDeletedWithParent

boolean isDeletedWithParent()

Determines whether this object will be automatically deleted when the containing object is deleted.

This is a special case of the isSavedWithParent() method. It probably would never be true if the isSavedWithParent() returns false.

Returns:

whether automatically deleted

isLoadedAtParentLoadTime

boolean isLoadedAtParentLoadTime()

Determines whether object will be loaded with parent

For related objects, whether this related object will be loaded from the persistence layer at the same time as the parent object.

If false, the object will be loaded upon demand, either via automatic lazy-loading provided by the infrastructure or by explicit request.

Returns:

whether object

isLoadedDynamicallyUponUse

boolean isLoadedDynamicallyUponUse()

Determines whether the object is reloaded automatically with parent

For related objects, whether this related object will be loaded from the persistence layer automatically when it is accessed by client code.

If false, then the object must be refreshed manually by client code. (Though such a refresh may be possible by requesting the refresh from the persistence provider.)

Returns:

whether object loaded automatically with parent

getParentAttributeNameRelatedToChildAttributeName

String getParentAttributeNameRelatedToChildAttributeName(String childAttribute)

Gets foreign key attribute from parent.

For a given child key attribute, return the matching foreign key attribute on the parent object.

Returns:

null if the attribute name given is not part of the key relationship.