ConfigurableEntity Interface

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