001 package de.deepamehta.core;
002
003 import de.deepamehta.core.model.AssociationModel;
004 import de.deepamehta.core.model.RoleModel;
005 import de.deepamehta.core.model.TopicRoleModel;
006
007 import java.util.List;
008
009
010
011 /**
012 * ### FIXDOC: Specification of an association -- A n-ary connection between topics and other associations.
013 *
014 * @author <a href="mailto:jri@deepamehta.de">Jörg Richter</a>
015 */
016 public interface Association extends DeepaMehtaObject {
017
018
019
020 // === Model ===
021
022 Role getRole1();
023
024 Role getRole2();
025
026 // ---
027
028 DeepaMehtaObject getPlayer1();
029
030 DeepaMehtaObject getPlayer2();
031
032 // ---
033
034 /**
035 * @teturn this association's topic which plays the given role.
036 * If there is no such topic, null is returned.
037 * <p>
038 * If there are 2 such topics an exception is thrown.
039 */
040 Topic getTopic(String roleTypeUri);
041
042 /**
043 * @teturn this association's topics which play the given role.
044 * The resulting set can have 0, 1, or 2 elements.
045 */
046 List<Topic> getTopics(String roleTypeUri);
047
048 // ---
049
050 /**
051 * Returns this association's role which refers to the same object as the given role model.
052 * The role returned is found by comparing topic IDs, topic URIs, or association IDs.
053 * The role types are <i>not</i> compared.
054 * <p>
055 * If the object refered by the given role model is not a player in this association an exception is thrown.
056 */
057 Role getRole(RoleModel roleModel);
058
059 boolean isPlayer(TopicRoleModel roleModel);
060
061 // ---
062
063 Association loadChildTopics();
064 Association loadChildTopics(String childTypeUri);
065
066 // ---
067
068 AssociationModel getModel();
069
070
071
072 // === Updating ===
073
074 void update(AssociationModel model);
075 }