org.biojava.bio
Class PropertyConstraint.ByClass

java.lang.Object
  org.biojava.bio.PropertyConstraint.ByClass

All Implemented Interfaces:

PropertyConstraint

Enclosing interface:

PropertyConstraint

public static class PropertyConstraint.ByClass
extends Object
implements PropertyConstraint

ByClass accepts a property value if it is an instance of a specific Java class.

Since:

1.3

Author:

Matthew Pocock Constrain a property to containing values of a particular class e.g. new ByClass(String.class) or new ByClass(Double) will ensure that the property is a String or a Double respecitvely.

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

PropertyConstraint.ByClass(Class cl)
Create a new ByClass instance.

Method Summary

boolean	accept(Object value) accept returns true if the value fulfills the constraint.
Class	getPropertyClass() Get the Class used as the 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

PropertyConstraint.ByClass

public PropertyConstraint.ByClass(Class cl)

Create a new ByClass instance.

Parameters:

cl - the Class that all properties must be assignable to

Method Detail

getPropertyClass

public Class getPropertyClass()

Get the Class used as the constraint.

Returns:

the Class all properties must be instances of

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