org.biojava.utils.candy

Interface CandyFinder

All Superinterfaces:

EventListener, PropertyChangeListener

public interface CandyFinder
extends PropertyChangeListener

This interface is a main entry point to a set of controlled vocabularies.

The implementation is supposed to behave as a Java bean (usually an invisible bean unless it implements some additional GUI methods which are not defined in this interface).

Version:

$Id$

Author:

Martin Senger, Matthew Pocock

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
static String	DEFAULT_FINDER_NAME A default name of this (and any) finder.
static String	PROP_VOCABULARY A property name.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	connect() It creates a connection to an object representing a vocabulary finder, or/and it makes all necessary initialization steps needed for further communication.
void	disconnect() It closes connection with the finder object.
CandyVocabulary[]	getAllVocabularies() It returns all available vocabularies.
String[]	getAllVocabularyNames() It returns names of all vocabularies known to this vocabulary finder.
String	getFinderName() It returns a name of this vocabulary finder.
int	getNumCount() It returns the number of available vocabularies.
CandyVocabulary	getVocabularyByName(String name) It returns a selected vocabulary.
boolean	isReady() It checks if a vocabulary finder object is available.

Methods inherited from interface java.beans.PropertyChangeListener

propertyChange

Field Detail

DEFAULT_FINDER_NAME

static final String DEFAULT_FINDER_NAME

A default name of this (and any) finder. It is used when no other name was given by the finder implementation.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROP_VOCABULARY

static final String PROP_VOCABULARY

A property name.

Its value is of type CandyVocabulary. It this property is set a given vocabulary becomes part of this finder.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

connect

void connect()
      throws CandyException

It creates a connection to an object representing a vocabulary finder, or/and it makes all necessary initialization steps needed for further communication.

However, there should be no need to call this method explicitly, the other methods should do it automatically before they need to use the finder.

Throws:

CandyException - if the connection/initialization cannot be established

isReady

boolean isReady()

It checks if a vocabulary finder object is available. The semantic of availabledepends on the implementation.

disconnect

void disconnect()

It closes connection with the finder object. Implementations may choose to use this method for freeing resources.

getAllVocabularyNames

String[] getAllVocabularyNames()
                        throws CandyException

It returns names of all vocabularies known to this vocabulary finder. Any of the returned names can be later used in the method getVocabularyByName.

Returns:

a list of available vocabulary names

Throws:

CandyException - if the finder fails to communicate with its vocabularies

getVocabularyByName

CandyVocabulary getVocabularyByName(String name)
                             throws CandyException

It returns a selected vocabulary.

Parameters:

name - a name of a vocabulary to be returned

Returns:

a selected vocabulary

Throws:

CandyException - when the vocabulary cannot be found (likely the given name is wrong)

See Also:

getAllVocabularyNames()

getAllVocabularies

CandyVocabulary[] getAllVocabularies()
                              throws CandyException

It returns all available vocabularies.

Returns:

all available vocabularies

Throws:

CandyException - if the finder fails to communicate with its vocabularies

getNumCount

int getNumCount()
         throws CandyException

It returns the number of available vocabularies.

Throws:

CandyException - if the finder fails to communicate with its vocabularies

getFinderName

String getFinderName()
              throws CandyException

It returns a name of this vocabulary finder.

Throws:

CandyException - if the finder fails to return its name