org.biojava.bio

Class PropertyConstraint.ByAnnotationType

java.lang.Object

org.biojava.bio.PropertyConstraint.ByAnnotationType

All Implemented Interfaces:

PropertyConstraint

Enclosing interface:

PropertyConstraint

public static class PropertyConstraint.ByAnnotationType
extends Object
implements PropertyConstraint

ByAnnotationType accepts a property value if it belongs to type defined by AnnotationType.

If you had an Embl AnnotationType then you could say that the REF property must contain annotations that fits your reference AnnotationType (with author list, title, optinal medline ID etc.).

If you wish to build a tree of Annotations so that a property in one is guaranteed to be itself an Annotation of a particular type. Effectively this lets you build your own type system using AnnotationType and PropertyConstraint.

Since:

1.3

Author:

Matthew Pocock

Nested Class Summary

Nested classes/interfaces inherited from interface org.biojava.bio.PropertyConstraint

PropertyConstraint.And, PropertyConstraint.ByAnnotationType, PropertyConstraint.ByClass, PropertyConstraint.Enumeration, PropertyConstraint.ExactValue, PropertyConstraint.Or

Field Summary

Fields inherited from interface org.biojava.bio.PropertyConstraint

ANY, NONE

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
ByAnnotationType(AnnotationType annType) Create a new constraint by type.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
boolean	accept(Object value) accept returns true if the value fulfills the constraint.
AnnotationType	getAnnotationType() Get the AnnotationType used as a constraint.
boolean	subConstraintOf(PropertyConstraint subConstraint) subConstraintOf returns true if the constraint is a sub-constraint.
String	toString()

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

ByAnnotationType

public ByAnnotationType(AnnotationType annType)

Create a new constraint by type.

Parameters:

annType - the AnnotationType to constrain to

Method Detail

getAnnotationType

public AnnotationType getAnnotationType()

Get the AnnotationType used as a constraint.

Returns:

the AnnotationType constraint

accept

public boolean accept(Object value)

Description copied from interface: PropertyConstraint

accept returns true if the value fulfills the constraint. Manually compare items with the PropertyConstraint. Node: this will ususaly be done for you in an AnnotationType instance Use for implementing accept() on AnnotatoinType

Specified by:

accept in interface PropertyConstraint

Parameters:

value - an Object to check.

Returns:

a boolean.

subConstraintOf

public boolean subConstraintOf(PropertyConstraint subConstraint)

Description copied from interface: PropertyConstraint

subConstraintOf returns true if the constraint is a sub-constraint.

A pair of constraints super and sub are in a superConstraint/subConstraint relationship if every object accepted by sub is also accepted by super. To put it another way, if instanceOf was used as a set-membership indicator function over some set of objects, then the set produced by super would be a superset of that produced by sub.

It is not expected that constraints will neccesarily maintain references to super/sub types. It will be more usual to infer this relationship by introspecting the constraints themselves. For example, PropertyConstraint.ByClass will infer subConstraintOf by looking at the possible class of all items matching subConstraint.

Useful when attempting to compare two constraints to see if it is necisary to retain both. You may want to check the more general or the more specific constraint only.

Specified by:

subConstraintOf in interface PropertyConstraint

Parameters:

subConstraint - a PropertyConstraint to check.

Returns:

a boolean.

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class Object