# com.bea.p13n.property
HierarchicalEntityImpl Class

public abstract class HierarchicalEntityImpl
extends `ConfigurableEntityImpl`

HierarchicalEntity extends ConfigurableEntity by describing an interface by which Entities can be included in a hierachy of successors. The resulting hierarchy is searched upward when getting Properties. This design pattern models the Chain of Responsibility Pattern (Gamma et al).

For example, if an entity A has a successor entity B, and A is queried for a property but does not have a value persisted for that property, it will lookup entity B and query it for that property.

Also, "explicit" successors can be specified as part of a getProperty method call. These are other ConfigurableEntities that should be queried after the current entity, but before any persisted successors.

A HierarchicalEntity can have one successor persisted for each property set, as well as a "default" successor that is not associated with a property set. The default successor will be queried in the case that the current entity does not have a value, the explicit successor (if one is specified) does not have a value, and the successor for the property's property set does not have a value.

Hierarchy
  `Object`
  `AbstractConfigurableEntity`
  `ConfigurableEntityImpl`
  `HierarchicalEntityImpl`

All Implemented Interfaces
  `ConfigurableEntity`, `EnterpriseBean`, `EntityBean`, `Serializable`

## Field Summary

`protected static final `String`` | `FIND_BY_PK` finder method name

Fields from com.bea.p13n.property`.`ConfigurableEntityImpl``
``_ctx`, `_environmentNamingContext`, `COMMERCE_POOL`, `ENTITY_PROPERTY_MANAGER`, `entityPropertyManager`, `JNDI_NAME`, `PROPERTY_SET_MANAGER`, `PROPERTY_SET_TYPE`, `propertyLocator`, `psManager`, `textFormatter`, `uid``

Fields from com.bea.p13n.property`.`AbstractConfigurableEntity``
``CE_METHOD_CACHE`, `instanceClass`, `PREFIX_GET`, `PREFIX_SET`, `propertyCache`, `textFormatter``

Fields from interface com.bea.p13n.property`.`ConfigurableEntity``
``RESERVED_PROPERTY_SET``

## Constructor Summary

HierarchicalEntityImpl()

## Method Summary

`protected `Method`` | `getFindByPrimaryKey`(`Class` homeClass, `Class`[] params) Get the findByPrimaryKey method from a home interface.
`protected `Object`` | `getImplicitProperty`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName) Override ConfigurableEntity.getImplicitProperty to do a successor search if the property was not found in this entity
`protected `Object`` | `getImplicitProperty`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName, `ConfigurableEntity` explicitSuccessor) Search for the property value in the default database tables; first in the current entity, then in the explicit successor entity, then in the implicit successor for the property set, and finally in the default implicit successor for this entity.
`public `Object`` | `getProperty`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName, `ConfigurableEntity` successor) Retrieve the value associated with the named key in the specified property set.
`public `String`` | `getPropertyAsString`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName, `ConfigurableEntity` successor) Convenience method to return the property as a String.
`public `Object`` | `getPropertyNoDefault`(`String` propertySet, `String` propertyName, `ConfigurableEntity` successor) Retrieve the value associated with the property in the specified property set, but does not return a default value from the property's PropertyDefinition if the property does not exist for the entity or in the hierarchy of successors.
`public `ConfigurableEntity`` | `getSuccessor`(`String` propertySet) Retrieve the successor associated with this ConfigurableEntity for the specified property set.
`protected `ConfigurableEntity`` | `getSuccessorFromId`(`Long` anEntityId) Get the entity represented by a unique entity id.
`public void` | `removeSuccessor`(`String` propertySet) Remove the successor for the specified propertySet.
`public void` | `setSuccessor`(`String` propertySet, `ConfigurableEntity` successor) This sets the successor for this object.

Methods from `com.bea.p13n.property.`ConfigurableEntityImpl``
``createUniqueId`, `ejbActivate`, `ejbCreate`, `ejbFindByPrimaryKey`, `ejbLoad`, `ejbPassivate`, `ejbPostCreate`, `ejbRemove`, `ejbStore`, `getConnection`, `getDefaultSqlBundleName`, `getEntityContext`, `getEntityPropertyManager`, `getEnvironmentNamingContext`, `getEnvironmentProperty`, `getEnvironmentProperty`, `getJndiName`, `getPkString`, `getProperty`, `getPropertyCache`, `getPropertyDefault`, `getPropertyLocator`, `getPropertyLocator`, `getPropertySetManager`, `getStatement`, `getUniqueId`, `removeProperty`, `setEntityContext`, `setProperty`, `unsetEntityContext`, `useEntityPropertyManager``

Methods from `com.bea.p13n.property.`AbstractConfigurableEntity``
``createMapKey`, `getCachedProperty`, `getExplicitProperty`, `getExplicitSetter`, `getJndiName`, `getPkString`, `getProperty`, `getPropertyAsString`, `getPropertyCache`, `getPropertyNoDefault`, `getUniqueId`, `hasExplicitGetter`, `hasExplicitSetter`, `removeExplicitProperty`, `removeProperty`, `setExplicitProperty`, `setProperty`, `upcaseFirst``

Methods from class `java.lang.`Object``
`clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

Methods from interface `com.bea.p13n.property.`ConfigurableEntity``
``getJndiName`, `getPkString`, `getProperty`, `getPropertyAsString`, `getPropertyNoDefault`, `getUniqueId`, `removeProperty`, `setProperty``

Methods from interface `javax.ejb.`EntityBean``
`ejbActivate, ejbLoad, ejbPassivate, ejbRemove, ejbStore, setEntityContext, unsetEntityContext`

## Field Detail

### FIND_BY_PK

    protected static final String FIND_BY_PK

  finder method name

## Constructor Detail

### HierarchicalEntityImpl

    public HierarchicalEntityImpl()

## Method Detail

### getFindByPrimaryKey(Class, Class[]) Method

    protected Method getFindByPrimaryKey(Class homeClass,
                                         Class[] params)

Get the findByPrimaryKey method from a home interface. This will cache the methods based on home class for faster lookups.

### getImplicitProperty(String, String) Method

    protected Object getImplicitProperty(String propertySet,
                                         String propertyName)
         throws RemoteException

Override ConfigurableEntity.getImplicitProperty to do a successor search if the property was not found in this entity

Overrides
  `AbstractConfigurableEntity.getImplicitProperty(String, String)`

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

#### Returns

the property value, or null if it was not found

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getImplicitProperty(String, String, ConfigurableEntity) Method

    protected Object getImplicitProperty(String propertySet,
                                         String propertyName,
                                         ConfigurableEntity explicitSuccessor)
         throws RemoteException

Search for the property value in the default database tables; first in the current entity, then in the explicit successor entity, then in the implicit successor for the property set, and finally in the default implicit successor for this entity.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

explicitSuccessor
  The explicit successor to use for sucessor hiearchy search if the entity does not have the property defined.

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getProperty(String, String, ConfigurableEntity) Method

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

Retrieve the value associated with the named key in the specified property set. If the entity does not have a value defined for that property, the property will be searched in the successor hiearchy using the explicit successor first and then the successor for the specified scope, and finally the entity's default successor. If this search does not return a value, the default value from the property set will be returned.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

successor
  The explicit successor to use for sucessor hiearchy search if the entity does not have the property defined.

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getPropertyAsString(String, String, ConfigurableEntity) Method

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

Convenience method to return the property as a String. Follows the same search order as the getProperty method.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

successor
  The explicit successor to use for sucessor hiearchy search if the entity does not have the property defined.

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getPropertyNoDefault(String, String, ConfigurableEntity) Method

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

Retrieve the value associated with the property in the specified property set, but does not return a default value from the property's PropertyDefinition if the property does not exist for the entity or in the hierarchy of successors. 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 PropertySet.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  The name of the property set

propertyName
  The name of the property to retrieve.

successor
  The explicit successor to use for sucessor hiearchy search if the entity does not have the property defined.

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getSuccessor(String) Method

    public ConfigurableEntity getSuccessor(String propertySet)
         throws RemoteException

Retrieve the successor associated with this ConfigurableEntity for the specified property set.

#### Parameters

propertySet
  the property set to look in

#### Returns

this entity's successor, or null if one was not defined

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### getSuccessorFromId(Long) Method

    protected ConfigurableEntity getSuccessorFromId(Long anEntityId)
         throws RemoteException

Get the entity represented by a unique entity id.

#### Parameters

anEntityId
  the successor's unique entity id

#### Returns

a reference to the successor entity, or null if it could not be found

#### Exceptions

``RemoteException``

### removeSuccessor(String) Method

    public void removeSuccessor(String propertySet)

Remove the successor for the specified propertySet.

### setSuccessor(String, ConfigurableEntity) Method

    public void setSuccessor(String propertySet,
                             ConfigurableEntity successor)

This sets the successor for this object. This is used when resolving the getProperty.