com.sas.entities
Class BaseEntity

com.sas.entities.BaseEntity

All Implemented Interfaces:

BaseEntityInterface, BaseEntityValueInterface, EntityKeyInterface, java.lang.Cloneable, java.rmi.Remote

Direct Known Subclasses:

ActionList, ActionSupportFilter, BaseAction, BaseCommand, CompositeDynamicAttributeCommand, Entity

public class BaseEntity
implements BaseEntityInterface, EntityKeyInterface, java.lang.Cloneable

BaseEntity is an entity object that is not a remote object. It is a simple entity object that contains methods for setting and getting attribute values. Unlike Entity, it does not create an AttributeGroup or AttributeDescriptors for its attributes.

See Also:

Entity

Constructor Summary

BaseEntity()
Create a default entity.

Method Summary

java.lang.Object	clone() Create a new BaseEntity object using the BaseEntity's attributes.
boolean	containsAttributeNamed(java.lang.String attributeName) Test if the Entity contains an attribute of a specified name.
boolean	equals(BaseEntity p) Returns a boolean indicating whether the entities are "equal".
boolean	equals(java.lang.Object o) Returns a boolean indicating whether the entities are "equal".
java.lang.Object	getAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName) Get an attribute value from the Entity.
java.lang.Object	getAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName, java.lang.Object defaultValue) Get a value of an attribute from the Entity or return a default value if it does not exist.
int	getAttributeCount() Returns the number of attributes defined.
java.util.Map	getAttributes(java.util.Map query) Perform a bulk value get on the Entity.
java.lang.String	getEntityKey() Return this entity's key or GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).
java.util.Map	getPropertyDescriptors() Returns a map of PropertyDescriptors.
java.lang.String	getStringAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName, java.lang.String defaultValue) Get a string value of an attribute from the Entity.
java.lang.String[]	listAttributeNames() Return an array of the attribute names on the Entity.
void	removeAllAttributes() Remove all attributes from the Entity.
void	removeAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName) Remove an attribute from the Entity if the attribute is an instance-based attribute.
void	reset() Clear the underlying list, reset fields to default values and release references to other non-default objects held by this instance.
boolean	sameEntity(EntityKeyInterface entity) Test if this Entity's key equals the key of another Entity.
void	setAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName, java.lang.Object value) Set an attribute and its value in the Entity.
void	setAttributes(java.util.Map update) Perform a bulk attribute set on the Entity.
void	setEntityKey(java.lang.String guid) Assign this entity's key or GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).
java.lang.String	toString() Returns the string representation of the Entity.

Constructor Detail

BaseEntity

public BaseEntity()

Create a default entity. It has no attributes. The Entity is created with a unique GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) or entity key.

Method Detail

getEntityKey

public java.lang.String getEntityKey()

Return this entity's key or GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).

Specified by:

getEntityKey in interface EntityKeyInterface

Returns:

entity key

See Also:

setEntityKey(String guid)

setEntityKey

public void setEntityKey(java.lang.String guid)

Assign this entity's key or GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).

Specified by:

setEntityKey in interface EntityKeyInterface

Parameters:

guid - a unique entity key, also known as a Globally Unique Identifer (GUID)

Throws:

java.lang.IllegalStateException - Subclasses may throw an IllegalStateException if this entity already has a GUID, although this base class method does not.

See Also:

getEntityKey()

sameEntity

public boolean sameEntity(EntityKeyInterface entity)

Description copied from interface: EntityKeyInterface

Test if this Entity's key equals the key of another Entity.

Specified by:

sameEntity in interface EntityKeyInterface

Returns:

true if the other entity's key is the same as EntityKeyInterface.getEntityKey(). Return false if entity is null

removeAttribute

public void removeAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName)

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Remove an attribute from the Entity if the attribute is an instance-based attribute. You cannot remove type-based attributes from entities. After removing an instance-based attribute, BaseEntityInterface.containsAttributeNamed(String) will return false and BaseEntityValueInterface.getAttribute(String) will throw a NoSuchElementException

Specified by:

removeAttribute in interface BaseEntityInterface

Parameters:

attributeName - the name of the attribute

removeAllAttributes

public void removeAllAttributes()

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Remove all attributes from the Entity.

Specified by:

removeAllAttributes in interface BaseEntityInterface

reset

public void reset()

Clear the underlying list, reset fields to default values and release references to other non-default objects held by this instance.

getAttribute

public java.lang.Object getAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName)
                              throws java.util.NoSuchElementException

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityValueInterface

Get an attribute value from the Entity.

Specified by:

getAttribute in interface BaseEntityValueInterface

Parameters:

attributeName - the name of the value

Returns:

the object associated with the attributeName

Throws:

java.util.NoSuchElementException - if there is no such value in the Entity (this is necessary to distinguish between no such attributeName and a value of null)

getAttribute

public java.lang.Object getAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName,
                                     java.lang.Object defaultValue)

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Get a value of an attribute from the Entity or return a default value if it does not exist.

Specified by:

getAttribute in interface BaseEntityInterface

Parameters:

attributeName - the name of the value

defaultValue - a default value to return if the named attribute, attributeName does not exist in the Entity

Returns:

the object associated with the attributeName, or the defaultValue if the Entity does not contain an element for the specified attributeName

getAttributes

public java.util.Map getAttributes(java.util.Map query)

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Perform a bulk value get on the Entity. This gets each attribute named in the query map.

Specified by:

getAttributes in interface BaseEntityInterface

Parameters:

query - a set of name/value pairs. This object is updated if the operation is performed locally.

Returns:

a map with names from the query and the values taken from the Entity

See Also:

BaseEntityInterface.setAttributes(Map update)

getStringAttribute

public java.lang.String getStringAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName,
                                           java.lang.String defaultValue)

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Get a string value of an attribute from the Entity. This method is an alias for BaseEntityValueInterface.getAttribute(String).

Specified by:

getStringAttribute in interface BaseEntityInterface

Parameters:

attributeName - the name of the value

defaultValue - a default value to return if the named attribute, attributeName does not exist in the Entity

Returns:

the object associated with the attributeName, or the defaultValue if the Entity does not contain an element for the specified attributeName.

setAttribute

public void setAttribute(java.lang.String attributeName,
                         java.lang.Object value)
                  throws AttributeSetException

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityValueInterface

Set an attribute and its value in the Entity.

Specified by:

setAttribute in interface BaseEntityValueInterface

Parameters:

attributeName - the name of the attribute

value - the value to associate with the attribute. Attribute values may be null if permitted by the AttributeType associated with the AttributeDescriptor

Throws:

AttributeSetException - if the AttributeType of the parameter, value, is not compatible with a previous setting of the attribute OR the attribute corresponding to the parameter, attributeName, has been designated as non-modifiable

See Also:

AttributeTypeInterface

setAttributes

public void setAttributes(java.util.Map update)
                   throws AttributeSetException

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Perform a bulk attribute set on the Entity. This sets each attribute named in the update map.

Specified by:

setAttributes in interface BaseEntityInterface

Parameters:

update - a set of name/value pairs to assign to the attributes of the Entity

Throws:

AttributeSetException - if the AttributeType of a parameter is not compatible with a previous setting of the attribute OR an attribute has been designated as non-modifiable

See Also:

BaseEntityInterface.getAttributes(Map query)

getPropertyDescriptors

public java.util.Map getPropertyDescriptors()

Returns a map of PropertyDescriptors.

Returns:

map of PropertyDescriptors

containsAttributeNamed

public boolean containsAttributeNamed(java.lang.String attributeName)

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Test if the Entity contains an attribute of a specified name.

Specified by:

containsAttributeNamed in interface BaseEntityInterface

Parameters:

attributeName - the attribute name to test

Returns:

true if this entity contains an attribute named name

getAttributeCount

public int getAttributeCount()

Returns the number of attributes defined.

Returns:

number of attributes

listAttributeNames

public java.lang.String[] listAttributeNames()

Description copied from interface: BaseEntityInterface

Return an array of the attribute names on the Entity.

Specified by:

listAttributeNames in interface BaseEntityInterface

clone

public java.lang.Object clone()
                       throws java.lang.CloneNotSupportedException

Create a new BaseEntity object using the BaseEntity's attributes.

Overrides:

clone in class java.lang.Object

Returns:

new BaseEntity that will have the same attributes as the BaseEntity

Throws:

java.lang.CloneNotSupportedException

equals

public boolean equals(BaseEntity p)

Returns a boolean indicating whether the entities are "equal". The entities are considered equal if they have the same number of attributes and all of the attribute values are the same.

Parameters:

p - instance of BaseEntity to compare

Returns:

true if the entities have the same attributes, false otherwise

equals

public boolean equals(java.lang.Object o)

Returns a boolean indicating whether the entities are "equal". The entities are considered equal if the input parameter is an instance of BaseEntity, they have the same number of attributes, and all of the attribute values are the same.

Overrides:

equals in class java.lang.Object

Parameters:

o - the object to compare

Returns:

true if the entities have the same attributes, false otherwise

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

Returns the string representation of the Entity. The string representation is a concatentation of the class name, identityHashCode, and the string representation of the map that holds the values of the instance-based attributes.

Overrides:

toString in class java.lang.Object

Returns:

string representation of the Entity