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Java > Open Source Codes > com > jcorporate > expresso > core > dataobjects > NestableDataObject


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65 package com.jcorporate.expresso.core.dataobjects;
66
67 /**
68  * Nestable indicates that the derived class includes nested data objects.
69  * <p>While
70  * the dataobject 'cluster' should be able to be acted on as a single unit,
71  * once in a while, it is necessary to get at the internal or &quot;nested&quot;
72  * data objects. </p>
73  * <p>An example of the Nestable usage is in
74  * <code>com.jcorporate.expresso.services.controller.dbmaint.ViewBlob</code>
75  * in conjunction with a
76  * <code>com.jcorporate.expresso.cores.dataobjects.jdbc.JoinedDataObject</code>.
77  * The ViewBlob routine needs to get to the low-level JDBC data objects rather
78  * than operate on the join as a whole. Since JoinedDataObject implements the
79  * <code>Nestable</code> interface. It is then possible to work with the underlying
80  * JDBCDataObjects in the join.
81  * </p>
82  *
83  * @author Michael Rimov
84  */
85 public interface NestableDataObject {
86
87     /**
88      * Retrieves a nested dataobject based upon the public field name that
89      * the DataObject publishes. For example, in JoinedDataObjects, the field
90      * name &quot;"abcd.efgh" represents DataObject 'abcd', and field name
91      * 'efgh'.
92      * <p>The actual usage of the naming convention will differ from the, thus
93      * you'll need to use getMetaData().getFieldList() to get the names of the
94      * fields of a <code>Nestable</code> object to get a valid field Name</p>
95      *
96      * @param fieldName the full field name to get the nested data object.
97      * @return DataObject or possibly null.
98      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the field name does not map to any
99      * DataObject
100      */
101     public DataObject getNestedFromFieldName(String JavaDoc fieldName);
102
103     /**
104      * Often times, field names for the external interface will be different
105      * from the of a nested field name in a data object. Use this function
106      * to get the internal field name for the DataObject returned by
107      * <code>getNestedFromFieldName()</code>
108      *
109      * @param fieldName The external name of the field
110      * @return java.lang.String, the field corresponding to the field name
111      * of the data object
112      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the given field name cannot map
113      * to a field.
114      */
115     public String JavaDoc getFieldFromNestedName(String JavaDoc fieldName);
116
117     /**
118      * Retrieve an array of all nested data objects. May be empty if there
119      * are no nested data objects. Ordering is undefined by this function.
120      *
121      * @return Array of DataObjects. Should never return null.
122      */
123     public DataObject[] getAllNested();
124
125
126 }
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