- All Superinterfaces:
Cloneable
,Serializable
- All Known Implementing Classes:
BasicAttribute
In a directory, named objects can have associated with them
attributes. The Attribute
interface represents an attribute associated
with a named object. An attribute contains 0 or more, possibly null, values.
The attribute values can be ordered or unordered (see isOrdered()
).
If the values are unordered, no duplicates are allowed.
If the values are ordered, duplicates are allowed.
The content and representation of an attribute and its values is defined by
the attribute's schema. The schema contains information
about the attribute's syntax and other properties about the attribute.
See getAttributeDefinition()
and
getAttributeSyntaxDefinition()
for details regarding how to get schema information about an attribute
if the underlying directory service supports schemas.
Equality of two attributes is determined by the implementation class.
A simple implementation can use Object.equals()
to determine equality
of attribute values, while a more sophisticated implementation might
make use of schema information to determine equality.
Similarly, one implementation might provide a static storage
structure which simply returns the values passed to its
constructor, while another implementation might define get()
and
getAll()
.
to get the values dynamically from the directory.
Note that updates to Attribute
(such as adding or removing a
value) do not affect the corresponding representation of the attribute
in the directory. Updates to the directory can only be effected
using operations in the DirContext
interface.
- Since:
- 1.3
- See Also:
-
Field Summary
-
Method Summary
Modifier and TypeMethodDescriptionvoid
Adds an attribute value to the ordered list of attribute values.boolean
Adds a new value to the attribute.void
clear()
Removes all values from this attribute.clone()
Makes a copy of the attribute.boolean
Determines whether a value is in the attribute.get()
Retrieves one of this attribute's values.get
(int ix) Retrieves the attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values.getAll()
Retrieves an enumeration of the attribute's values.Retrieves the attribute's schema definition.Retrieves the syntax definition associated with the attribute.getID()
Retrieves the id of this attribute.boolean
Determines whether this attribute's values are ordered.remove
(int ix) Removes an attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values.boolean
Removes a specified value from the attribute.Sets an attribute value in the ordered list of attribute values.int
size()
Retrieves the number of values in this attribute.
-
Field Details
-
serialVersionUID
Deprecated.AserialVersionUID
field in an interface is ineffectual. Do not use; no replacement.Use serialVersionUID from JNDI 1.1.1 for interoperability.- See Also:
-
-
Method Details
-
getAll
Retrieves an enumeration of the attribute's values. The behaviour of this enumeration is unspecified if the attribute's values are added, changed, or removed while the enumeration is in progress. If the attribute values are ordered, the enumeration's items will be ordered.- Returns:
- A non-null enumeration of the attribute's values. Each element of the enumeration is a possibly null Object. The object's class is the class of the attribute value. The element is null if the attribute's value is null. If the attribute has zero values, an empty enumeration is returned.
- Throws:
NamingException
- If a naming exception was encountered while retrieving the values.- See Also:
-
get
Retrieves one of this attribute's values. If the attribute has more than one value and is unordered, any one of the values is returned. If the attribute has more than one value and is ordered, the first value is returned.- Returns:
- A possibly null object representing one of the attribute's value. It is null if the attribute's value is null.
- Throws:
NamingException
- If a naming exception was encountered while retrieving the value.NoSuchElementException
- If this attribute has no values.
-
size
int size()Retrieves the number of values in this attribute.- Returns:
- The nonnegative number of values in this attribute.
-
getID
String getID()Retrieves the id of this attribute.- Returns:
- The id of this attribute. It cannot be null.
-
contains
Determines whether a value is in the attribute. Equality is determined by the implementation, which may useObject.equals()
or schema information to determine equality.- Parameters:
attrVal
- The possibly null value to check. If null, check whether the attribute has an attribute value whose value is null.- Returns:
- true if attrVal is one of this attribute's values; false otherwise.
- See Also:
-
add
Adds a new value to the attribute. If the attribute values are unordered andattrVal
is already in the attribute, this method does nothing. If the attribute values are ordered,attrVal
is added to the end of the list of attribute values.Equality is determined by the implementation, which may use
Object.equals()
or schema information to determine equality.- Parameters:
attrVal
- The new possibly null value to add. If null, null is added as an attribute value.- Returns:
- true if a value was added; false otherwise.
-
remove
Removes a specified value from the attribute. Ifattrval
is not in the attribute, this method does nothing. If the attribute values are ordered, the first occurrence ofattrVal
is removed and attribute values at indices greater than the removed value are shifted up towards the head of the list (and their indices decremented by one).Equality is determined by the implementation, which may use
Object.equals()
or schema information to determine equality.- Parameters:
attrval
- The possibly null value to remove from this attribute. If null, remove the attribute value that is null.- Returns:
- true if the value was removed; false otherwise.
-
clear
void clear()Removes all values from this attribute. -
getAttributeSyntaxDefinition
Retrieves the syntax definition associated with the attribute. An attribute's syntax definition specifies the format of the attribute's value(s). Note that this is different from the attribute value's representation as a Java object. Syntax definition refers to the directory's notion of syntax.For example, even though a value might be a Java String object, its directory syntax might be "Printable String" or "Telephone Number". Or a value might be a byte array, and its directory syntax is "JPEG" or "Certificate". For example, if this attribute's syntax is "JPEG", this method would return the syntax definition for "JPEG".
The information that you can retrieve from a syntax definition is directory-dependent.
If an implementation does not support schemas, it should throw OperationNotSupportedException. If an implementation does support schemas, it should define this method to return the appropriate information.
- Returns:
- The attribute's syntax definition. Null if the implementation supports schemas but this particular attribute does not have any schema information.
- Throws:
OperationNotSupportedException
- If getting the schema is not supported.NamingException
- If a naming exception occurs while getting the schema.
-
getAttributeDefinition
Retrieves the attribute's schema definition. An attribute's schema definition contains information such as whether the attribute is multivalued or single-valued, the matching rules to use when comparing the attribute's values. The information that you can retrieve from an attribute definition is directory-dependent.If an implementation does not support schemas, it should throw OperationNotSupportedException. If an implementation does support schemas, it should define this method to return the appropriate information.
- Returns:
- This attribute's schema definition. Null if the implementation supports schemas but this particular attribute does not have any schema information.
- Throws:
OperationNotSupportedException
- If getting the schema is not supported.NamingException
- If a naming exception occurs while getting the schema.
-
clone
Object clone()Makes a copy of the attribute. The copy contains the same attribute values as the original attribute: the attribute values are not themselves cloned. Changes to the copy will not affect the original and vice versa.- Returns:
- A non-null copy of the attribute.
-
isOrdered
boolean isOrdered()Determines whether this attribute's values are ordered. If an attribute's values are ordered, duplicate values are allowed. If an attribute's values are unordered, they are presented in any order and there are no duplicate values.- Returns:
- true if this attribute's values are ordered; false otherwise.
- See Also:
-
get
Retrieves the attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values. This method returns the value at theix
index of the list of attribute values. If the attribute values are unordered, this method returns the value that happens to be at that index.- Parameters:
ix
- The index of the value in the ordered list of attribute values.0 <= ix < size()
.- Returns:
- The possibly null attribute value at index
ix
; null if the attribute value is null. - Throws:
NamingException
- If a naming exception was encountered while retrieving the value.IndexOutOfBoundsException
- Ifix
is outside the specified range.
-
remove
Removes an attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values. This method removes the value at theix
index of the list of attribute values. If the attribute values are unordered, this method removes the value that happens to be at that index. Values located at indices greater thanix
are shifted up towards the front of the list (and their indices decremented by one).- Parameters:
ix
- The index of the value to remove.0 <= ix < size()
.- Returns:
- The possibly null attribute value at index
ix
that was removed; null if the attribute value is null. - Throws:
IndexOutOfBoundsException
- Ifix
is outside the specified range.
-
add
Adds an attribute value to the ordered list of attribute values. This method addsattrVal
to the list of attribute values at indexix
. Values located at indices at or greater thanix
are shifted down towards the end of the list (and their indices incremented by one). If the attribute values are unordered and already haveattrVal
,IllegalStateException
is thrown.- Parameters:
ix
- The index in the ordered list of attribute values to add the new value.0 <= ix <= size()
.attrVal
- The possibly null attribute value to add; if null, null is the value added.- Throws:
IndexOutOfBoundsException
- Ifix
is outside the specified range.IllegalStateException
- If the attribute values are unordered andattrVal
is one of those values.
-
set
Sets an attribute value in the ordered list of attribute values. This method sets the value at theix
index of the list of attribute values to beattrVal
. The old value is removed. If the attribute values are unordered, this method sets the value that happens to be at that index toattrVal
, unlessattrVal
is already one of the values. In that case,IllegalStateException
is thrown.- Parameters:
ix
- The index of the value in the ordered list of attribute values.0 <= ix < size()
.attrVal
- The possibly null attribute value to use. If null, 'null' replaces the old value.- Returns:
- The possibly null attribute value at index ix that was replaced. Null if the attribute value was null.
- Throws:
IndexOutOfBoundsException
- Ifix
is outside the specified range.IllegalStateException
- IfattrVal
already exists and the attribute values are unordered.
-
serialVersionUID
field in an interface is ineffectual.