/*
* GeoTools - The Open Source Java GIS Toolkit
* http://geotools.org
*
* (C) 2011, Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
* (C) 2004-2007 Open Geospatial Consortium Inc.
*
* All Rights Reserved. http://www.opengis.org/legal/
*/
package org.opengis.feature.type;
import org.opengis.feature.Attribute;
/**
* The type of an attribute.
* <p>
* An attribute is similar to the notion of a UML attribute, or a field of a java
* object. See the javadoc of {@link Attribute} for more info on the semantics
* of attributes.
* </p>
* <p>
* <h3>Identifiablily</h3>
* An attribute may be "identifiable". When this is the case the attribute has a
* unique identifier associated with it. See {@link Attribute#getID()}. The type
* of the attribute specifies wether it is identifiable or not ({@link #isIdentified()}.
* </p>
*
* @author Jody Garnett, Refractions Research
* @author Justin Deoliveira, The Open Planning Project
*
* @source $URL: http://svn.osgeo.org/geotools/trunk/modules/library/opengis/src/main/java/org/opengis/feature/type/AttributeType.java $
*/
public interface AttributeType extends PropertyType {
/**
* Indicates if the type is identified or not.
* <p>
* If this method returns <code>true</code>, then the corresponding
* attribute must have a unique identifier, ie, {@link Attribute#getID()}
* must return a value, and cannot be <code>null</code>.
* </p>
*
* @return <code>true</code> if the attribute is identified, otherwise <code>false</code>.
*
* @see Attribute#getID()
*/
boolean isIdentified();
/**
* Override of {@link PropertyType#getSuper()} which type narrows to
* {@link AttributeType}.
*
* @see PropertyType#getSuper()
*/
AttributeType getSuper();
}