001 /**
002 The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1
003 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
004 You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/
005 Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis,
006 WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
007 specific language governing rights and limitations under the License.
008
009 The Original Code is "Rule.java". Description:
010 "A testable rule to which HL7 messages should conform"
011
012 The Initial Developer of the Original Code is University Health Network. Copyright (C)
013 2002. All Rights Reserved.
014
015 Contributor(s): ______________________________________.
016
017 Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms of the
018 GNU General Public License (the �GPL�), in which case the provisions of the GPL are
019 applicable instead of those above. If you wish to allow use of your version of this
020 file only under the terms of the GPL and not to allow others to use your version
021 of this file under the MPL, indicate your decision by deleting the provisions above
022 and replace them with the notice and other provisions required by the GPL License.
023 If you do not delete the provisions above, a recipient may use your version of
024 this file under either the MPL or the GPL.
025 */
026
027 package ca.uhn.hl7v2.validation;
028
029 import java.io.Serializable;
030
031 /**
032 * <p>
033 * A testable rule to which HL7 messages (at least certain specific message)
034 * should conform. This is the central interface of the new HAPI validation
035 * model (as of HAPI 0.4). Previously, the only run-time message validation HAPI
036 * performs is within the setValue() methods of the Primitive datatype classes.
037 * For example when you called setValue() on a DT an exception was thrown if the
038 * String arg was not in the correct DT format. This method served well
039 * initially but left us with the following limitations:
040 * <ol>
041 * <li>Sometimes validation is inappropriate (e.g. some of the standard rules,
042 * like phone number format, don't make sense in some regions).</li>
043 * <li>Couldn't add further optional constraints (such as all timestamps must
044 * have a time zone).</li>
045 * <li>Couldn't turn off validation to improve performance.</li>
046 * <li>Other forms of validation (e.g. conformance profiles, standard DTDs) were
047 * not covered.</li>
048 * </ol>
049 * </p>
050 * <p>
051 * Thus the new validation model is broader in scope, and is based on validation
052 * rules implemented as Rule objects, which can be configured to run or not, as
053 * needed, depending on run-time configuration.
054 * </p>
055 * <p>
056 * There are three kinds of rules:
057 * <ol>
058 * <li>PrimitiveTypeRule: Called when the values of simple datatypes are set,
059 * like the existing hard-coded datatype validations (e.g.
060 * TNFollowsNorthAmericanFormat).</li>
061 * <li>MessageRule: Called when complete message content is to be checked on a
062 * parsed message (e.g. conformance profile).</li>
063 * <li>EncodingRule: Applied to an encoded message (e.g. validation against a
064 * 2.xml Schema, a rule that prohibits empty tags, etc.).</li>
065 * </ol>
066 * </p>
067 *
068 * @author Bryan Tripp
069 */
070 public interface Rule extends Serializable {
071
072 /**
073 * Returns a text description of the rule. This description may be used as a
074 * message in exceptions generated if validation against the rule fails, or
075 * in a user interface for rule configuration.
076 */
077 public String getDescription();
078
079 /**
080 * A string indicating the section of the HL7 standard from which this rule
081 * is derived (if applicable). Like the description, this may be used in an
082 * exception message or configuration UI.
083 */
084 public String getSectionReference();
085
086
087 }