ldap/src/main/java/org/apache/directory/shared/ldap/schema/SchemaObject.java

/*
 *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
 *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
 *  distributed with this work for additional information
 *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
 *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
 *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
 *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *  
 *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *  
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
 *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
 *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
 *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
 *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
 *  under the License. 
 *  
 */
package org.apache.directory.shared.ldap.schema;

import java.io.Serializable;


/**
 * Most schema objects have some common attributes. This super interface
 * represents the minimum set of properties exposed by a SchemaObject.
 * 
 * @author <a href="mailto:dev@directory.apache.org">Apache Directory Project</a>
 * @version $Rev$
 */
public interface SchemaObject extends Serializable
{
    /**
     * Gets whether or not this SchemaObject has been inactivated. All
     * SchemaObjects except Syntaxes allow for this parameter within their
     * definition. For Syntaxes this property should always return false in
     * which case it is never included in the description.
     * 
     * @return true if inactive, false if active
     */
    boolean isObsolete();


    /**
     * Gets usually what is the numeric object identifier assigned to this
     * SchemaObject. All schema objects except for MatchingRuleUses have an OID
     * assigned specifically to then. A MatchingRuleUse's OID really is the OID
     * of it's MatchingRule and not specific to the MatchingRuleUse. This
     * effects how MatchingRuleUse objects are maintained by the system.
     * 
     * @return an OID for this SchemaObject or its MatchingRule if this
     *         SchemaObject is a MatchingRuleUse object
     */
    String getOid();


    /**
     * Gets short names for this SchemaObject if any exists for it.
     * 
     * @return the names for this SchemaObject
     */
    String[] getNamesRef();


    /**
     * Gets the first name in the set of short names for this SchemaObject if
     * any exists for it.
     * 
     * @return the first of the names for this SchemaObject or null if one does
     *         not exist
     */
    String getName();


    /**
     * Gets a short description about this SchemaObject.
     * 
     * @return a short description about this SchemaObject
     */
    String getDescription();
    
    
    /**
     * Gets the name of the schema this SchemaObject is associated with.
     *
     * @return the name of the schema associated with this schemaObject
     */
    String getSchema();


    /**
     * Sets the name of the schema this SchemaObject is associated with.
     * 
     * @param schemaName the new schema name
     */
    void setSchema( String schemaName );
}