/*==========================================================================*\
| $Id: MigratoryAttributeOwner.java,v 1.2 2012/03/28 13:48:08 stedwar2 Exp $
|*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*|
| Copyright (C) 2006-2012 Virginia Tech
|
| This file is part of Web-CAT.
|
| Web-CAT 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.
|
| Web-CAT 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 General Public License for more details.
|
| You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
| along with Web-CAT; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
\*==========================================================================*/
package org.webcat.core;
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
/**
* Enterprise objects that implement this interface will automatically have
* their data "migrated" such that any new columns that are added and need to
* have semantically correct values (perhaps derived from values in other
* columns) will be updated on-demand when the object is first retrieved from
* the data store.
*
* To make use of this functionality, create a new attribute in your EOModel
* and place "needsMigration = true" in its userInfo dictionary. When the
* EOGenerator runs on the model, this interface will automatically be
* implemented by any classes with such attributes. The underscore-prefixed
* class for the EO will implement its {@link #migrateAttributeValuesIfNeeded}
* method by simply checking if the each property is null and, if so, invoking
* its accessor. It is assumed that the non-prefixed subclass will override
* this accessor to either compute the property (migrating it) or, if already
* migrated, just return its value.
*
* @author Tony Allevato
* @author Last changed by $Author: stedwar2 $
* @version $Revision: 1.2 $, $Date: 2012/03/28 13:48:08 $
*/
public interface MigratoryAttributeOwner
{
//~ Methods ...............................................................
// ----------------------------------------------------------
/**
* Called as part of an object's life cycle to compute on-demand any
* migratory attributes that might be necessary.
*/
void migrateAttributeValuesIfNeeded();
}