# com.bea.p13n.property
ConfigurableEntity Interface

public interface ConfigurableEntity

The ConfigurableEntity provides the interface to an Entity that can be configured at runtime by associating properties via name-value pairs. The values are permanently associated with the entity by use of the EntityPropertyManager.

The name to associate the value with is made of an optional property set name and a key. Property sets define namespaces for keys. Duplicate keys are allowed in different property sets, and not specifying a property set means the "default" property set.

Entities that derive from ConfigurableEntity will require that the EntityPropertyManager and PropertySetType environment variables be set in their EJB deployment descriptors.

The EntityPropertyManager is a stateless session bean that is used to persist the runtime properties. That bean in turn can be configured to persist its properties in a separate set of tables.

Related Topics

``PropertySet``
``EntityPropertyManager``

All Known Implementing Classes
  `AbstractConfigurableEntity`, `Event`, `HttpConfigurableEntity`, `CatalogItemImpl`, `CategoryImpl`, `MutableCategoryImpl`, `MutableCatalogItemImpl`, `MutableProductItemImpl`, `ProductItemImpl`, `NodeDocument`, `AbstractHierarchicalEntity`

All Known Subinterfaces
  `CatalogItem`, `Category`, `Content`, `Customer`, `Document`, `HierarchicalEntity`, `MutableCatalogItem`, `MutableCategory`, `MutableProductItem`, `ProductItem`

## Field Summary

`public static final `String`` | `RESERVED_PROPERTY_SET` keyword for external property set

## Method Summary

`public `String`` | `getJndiName`() Retrieve the jndi name for an entity.
`public `String`` | `getPkString`() Retrieve the pk string for an entity.
`public `Object`` | `getProperty`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName) Retrieve the value that was persisted for this entity for the given property, within the given property set.
`public `String`` | `getPropertyAsString`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName) Convenience method to return a property as a String.
`public `Object`` | `getPropertyNoDefault`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName) Retrieve the value associated with the named key in the specified property set, but does not return a default value from the property's PropertyDefinition if a value was not persisted for this entity.
`public long` | `getUniqueId`() Retrieve the unique identifier generated for this ConfigurableEntity.
`public `Object`` | `removeProperty`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName) Remove the property associated with the named key in the specified property set.
`public void` | `setProperty`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName, `Object` value) Associate the specified value with the named key in the specified property set.

## Field Detail

### RESERVED_PROPERTY_SET

    public static final String RESERVED_PROPERTY_SET

  keyword for external property set

## Method Detail

### getJndiName() Method

    public String getJndiName()
         throws RemoteException

Retrieve the jndi name for an entity. A combination of pk string and jndi name is always unique between entities.

#### Returns

the jndi name for this entity

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getPkString() Method

    public String getPkString()
         throws RemoteException

Retrieve the pk string for an entity. A combination of pk string and jndi name is always unique between entities.

#### Returns

the primary key string identifier for this entity

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getProperty(String, String) Method

    public Object getProperty(String propertySet,
                              String propertyName)
         throws RemoteException

Retrieve the value that was persisted for this entity for the given property, within the given property set. If the entity does not have a value persisted for this property, the default value from the property set will be returned.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set to look in

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

#### Returns

the value for this property, or null if all searches failed

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getPropertyAsString(String, String) Method

    public String getPropertyAsString(String propertySet,
                                      String propertyName)
         throws RemoteException

Convenience method to return a property as a String.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set to look in

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

#### Returns

the value for this property as a String, or null if all searches failed

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getPropertyNoDefault(String, String) Method

    public Object getPropertyNoDefault(String propertySet,
                                       String propertyName)
         throws RemoteException

Retrieve the value associated with the named key in the specified property set, but does not return a default value from the property's PropertyDefinition if a value was not persisted for this entity. This method is used by the implementation of the getProperty methods so that the search in the successor hierarchy does not return a default value from the Schema.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

#### Returns

the value for this property, or null if all searches failed

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getUniqueId() Method

    public long getUniqueId()
         throws RemoteException

Retrieve the unique identifier generated for this ConfigurableEntity. The unique identifier is used by the EntityPropertyManager to optimize the foreign keys in the persistent storage. This method may not be implemented in a lightweight implementation of ConfigurableEntity.

#### Returns

this entity's unique id

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### removeProperty(String, String) Method

    public Object removeProperty(String propertySet,
                                 String propertyName)
         throws RemoteException

Remove the property associated with the named key in the specified property set.

NOTE: if an explicit setter method is found for this property, this method will set the value to null.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set.

propertyName
  The name of the property to remove.

#### Returns

the old value of the property, or null if there was none.

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### setProperty(String, String, Object) Method

    public void setProperty(String propertySet,
                            String propertyName,
                            Object value)
         throws PropertyValidationException, RemoteException

Associate the specified value with the named key in the specified property set.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set.

propertyName
  The name of the property to assign

value
  The value to associate with the property name

#### Exceptions

``PropertyValidationException``
  If the property value does not match the PropertyDefinition for this property set
``RemoteException``