Specifies an abstract, persistable object that is contained within a
business model container and provides support for having a unique identity within that
container. It also manages common attributes for objects having identities within a business model.
Having a unique identity within the container, objects of this type can be
referenced between separately persistable business models. For example, FilterItem objects
defined in data selections can reference DataItem objects defined in information maps
(as long as the data selection has been built on information map ... that is, the information map
is in the data selection's business model chain).
Besides having this object's identity being used during persistence, it's identity
(certain objects only) is also used when referencing the objects within ResourceAwareStringExpression
objects. That is, its possible to reference certain objects by their identity using a
specific syntax within ResourceAwareStringExpression objects. See that class for details.
Unless otherwise noted, all getter/setter method pairs do not copy
their outputs or inputs, respectively. That is, if one calls the
setter method and immediately calls the getter method for that same
attribute, the object that was just given on the setter method will
be returned by the getter.
The only general exception to this rule, which is not documented further
on the getter/setter methods, is when the output or input is a List,
in which case the List is copied but the contents of the list are not copied.
(A shallow copy of the List is made in both the setter and getter methods).
Field Summary
Fields inherited from interface com.sas.iquery.metadata.business.ModelItemWithIdentity
Returns the business model this object was created by.
The business model returned need not *contain* this object
in its lists of objects it manages (for example, data sources, business rules, business items)
-- as this object may have never been added or may have been removed from
the business model's lists.
One must call methods on the business model or a list managed by the business model
to determine if this object is contained within the business model.
Returns:
the business model this object was created by (never null)
isContainedInBusinessModel
boolean isContainedInBusinessModel()
Returns whether this object is contained in the business model that created it.
The BusinessModel.contains(BusinessModelObject) method is used
to determine this.
Returns:
a boolean value indicating whether this object is contained within the business model that created it.
isIDOK
boolean isIDOK()
Checks to see if the intra-model ID set on this object is valid and unique within the business model
containing it. Typical reasons why the intra-model ID is not good is because it is null or it conflicts
with another intra-model ID on a business model object contained in the same business model.
Returns:
a boolean value indicating if the id set on this object is valid
isReadOnly
boolean isReadOnly()
Returns whether this object is read-only. If a object is read-only,
calling setter methods or any other methods that result in changes to
this object results in a MetadataNotChangeableException. This object is
read-only when its contained business model is read-only -- which can occur
when it is read in from storage when it is required as part of a chain of
business models. For example, when BusinessModelB (for example, a report) is read
in but it requires BusinessModelA as its base model, BusinessModelA must be
read in first ... and when it is it is marked read-only.
