org.exolab.castor.mapping
Interface FieldDescriptor

All Known Subinterfaces:

XMLFieldDescriptor

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractFieldDescriptor, XMLFieldDescriptorImpl

public interface FieldDescriptor

Describes the properties of a field. Implementations will extend this inteface to provide additional properties.

Version:

$Revision: 6907 $ $Date: 2005-12-06 14:55:28 -0700 (Tue, 06 Dec 2005) $

Author:

Assaf Arkin, Ralf Joachim

Method Summary

ClassDescriptor	getClassDescriptor() Returns the class descriptor related to the field type.
ClassDescriptor	getContainingClassDescriptor() Get the class descriptor which contains this field.
java.lang.String	getFieldName() Returns the name of the field.
java.lang.Class	getFieldType() Returns the Java type of the field.
FieldHandler	getHandler() Returns the handler of the field.
boolean	isImmutable() Returns true if the field type is immutable.
boolean	isMultivalued() Returns true if the field is multivalued (a collection).
boolean	isRequired() Returns true if the field type is required.
boolean	isTransient() Returns true if the field is transient.
void	setContainingClassDescriptor(ClassDescriptor parent) Set the class descriptor which contains this field.

Method Detail

setContainingClassDescriptor

public void setContainingClassDescriptor(ClassDescriptor parent)

Set the class descriptor which contains this field.

Parameters:

parent - The class descriptor which contains this field.

getContainingClassDescriptor

public ClassDescriptor getContainingClassDescriptor()

Get the class descriptor which contains this field.

Returns:

The class descriptor which contains this field.

getFieldName

public java.lang.String getFieldName()

Returns the name of the field. The field must have a name, even if set through accessor methods.

Returns:

Field name.

getFieldType

public java.lang.Class getFieldType()

Returns the Java type of the field.

Returns:

Field type.

getClassDescriptor

public ClassDescriptor getClassDescriptor()

Returns the class descriptor related to the field type. If the field type is a class for which a descriptor exists, this descriptor is returned. If the field type is a class for which no mapping is provided, null is returned.

Returns:

The class descriptor of the field type, or null.

getHandler

public FieldHandler getHandler()

Returns the handler of the field. In order to persist or marshal a field descriptor will be associated with a handler.

Returns:

The field handler.

isTransient

public boolean isTransient()

Returns true if the field is transient. Transient fields are never persisted or marshalled.

Returns:

True if transient field.

isImmutable

public boolean isImmutable()

Returns true if the field type is immutable.

Returns:

True if the field type is immutable.

isRequired

public boolean isRequired()

Returns true if the field type is required.

Returns:

True if the field type is required.

isMultivalued

public boolean isMultivalued()

Returns true if the field is multivalued (a collection).

Returns:

True if the field is multivalued.