/**
* Copyright (c) 2002-2010 "Neo Technology,"
* Network Engine for Objects in Lund AB [http://neotechnology.com]
*
* This file is part of Neo4j.
*
* Neo4j is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
* published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
* License, or (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
* along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*/
package org.neo4j.graphdb;
/**
* Defines a common API for handling properties on both {@link Node nodes} and
* {@link Relationship relationships}.
* <p>
* Properties are key-value pairs. The keys are always strings. Valid property
* value types are all the Java primitives (<code>int</code>, <code>byte</code>,
* <code>float</code>, etc), <code>java.lang.String</code>s and arrays of
* primitives and Strings.
* <p>
* <b>Please note</b> that Neo4j does NOT accept arbitrary objects as property
* values. {@link #setProperty(String, Object) setProperty()} takes a
* <code>java.lang.Object</code> only to avoid an explosion of overloaded
* <code>setProperty()</code> methods.
*/
public interface PropertyContainer
{
/**
* Get the {@link GraphDatabaseService} that this {@link Node} or
* {@link Relationship} belongs to.
*
* @return The GraphDatabase this Node or Relationship belongs to.
*/
public GraphDatabaseService getGraphDatabase();
/**
* Returns <code>true</code> if this property container has a property
* accessible through the given key, <code>false</code> otherwise. If key is
* <code>null</code>, this method returns <code>false</code>.
*
* @param key the property key
* @return <code>true</code> if this property container has a property
* accessible through the given key, <code>false</code> otherwise
*/
public boolean hasProperty( String key );
/**
* Returns the property value associated with the given key. The value is of
* one of the valid property types, i.e. a Java primitive, a {@link String
* String} or an array of any of the valid types.
* <p>
* If there's no property associated with <code>key</code> an unchecked
* exception is raised. The idiomatic way to avoid an exception for an
* unknown key and instead get <code>null</code> back is to use a default
* value: {@link #getProperty(String, Object) Object valueOrNull =
* nodeOrRel.getProperty( key, null )}
*
* @param key the property key
* @return the property value associated with the given key
* @throws NotFoundException if there's no property associated with
* <code>key</code>
*/
public Object getProperty( String key );
/**
* Returns the property value associated with the given key, or a default
* value. The value is of one of the valid property types, i.e. a Java
* primitive, a {@link String String} or an array of any of the valid types.
*
* @param key the property key
* @param defaultValue the default value that will be returned if no
* property value was associated with the given key
* @return the property value associated with the given key
*/
public Object getProperty( String key, Object defaultValue );
/**
* Sets the property value for the given key to <code>value</code>. The
* property value must be one of the valid property types, i.e:
* <ul>
* <li><code>boolean</code> or <code>boolean[]</code></li>
* <li><code>byte</code> or <code>byte[]</code></li>
* <li><code>short</code> or <code>short[]</code></li>
* <li><code>int</code> or <code>int[]</code></li>
* <li><code>long</code> or <code>long[]</code></li>
* <li><code>float</code> or <code>float[]</code></li>
* <li><code>double</code> or <code>double[]</code></li>
* <li><code>char</code> or <code>char[]</code></li>
* <li><code>java.lang.String</code> or <code>String[]</code></li>
* </ul>
* <p>
* This means that <code>null</code> is not an accepted property value.
*
* @param key the key with which the new property value will be associated
* @param value the new property value, of one of the valid property types
* @throws IllegalArgumentException if <code>value</code> is of an
* unsupported type (including <code>null</code>)
*/
public void setProperty( String key, Object value );
/**
* Removes the property associated with the given key and returns the old
* value. If there's no property associated with the key, <code>null</code>
* will be returned.
*
* @param key the property key
* @return the property value that used to be associated with the given key
*/
public Object removeProperty( String key );
/**
* Returns all existing property keys, or an empty iterable if this property
* container has no properties.
*
* @return all property keys on this property container
*/
// TODO: figure out concurrency semantics
public Iterable<String> getPropertyKeys();
/**
* Returns all currently valid property values, or an empty iterable if this
* node has no properties. All values are of a supported property type, i.e.
* a Java primitive, a {@link String String} or an array of any of the
* supported types.
* <p>
* <b>Note:</b> This method is deprecated and <i>will</i> be removed in
* future releases. Use a combination of {@link #getPropertyKeys()} and
* {@link #getProperty(String)} to achieve the same result.
*
* @return all property values
* @deprecated in favor of using {@link #getPropertyKeys()} in combination
* with {@link #getProperty(String)}.
*/
// TODO: figure out concurrency semantics
@Deprecated
public Iterable<Object> getPropertyValues();
}