LabelledGroupOfStatements.java

/*
   This file is part of the LarKC platform 
   http://www.larkc.eu/

   Copyright 2010 LarKC project consortium

   Licensed 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 eu.larkc.core.data;

import org.openrdf.model.Resource;
import org.openrdf.model.Statement;
import org.openrdf.model.URI;
import org.openrdf.model.Value;

/**
 * SetOfStatements passed by reference using a temporary statement tag. The
 * LarKC data model provides a unique feature to efficiently creates groups of
 * statements and associated individual statements to them.
 * 
 * For more information please refer to LarKC data model documentation.
 * 
 * @author vassil
 * 
 */
public interface LabelledGroupOfStatements extends SetOfStatements {

	/**
	 * Returns the name of the group label.
	 * 
	 * @return label
	 */
	public URI getLabel();

	/**
	 * Includes a new statement to the labeled group
	 * 
	 * @param subj
	 *            of the statement to be included (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @param pred
	 *            of the statement to be included (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @param obj
	 *            of the statement to be included (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @param graph
	 *            of the statement to be included (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @return if any statements were associated
	 */
	public boolean includeStatement(Resource subj, URI pred, Value obj,
			URI graph);

	/**
	 * Includes a statement to the labeled group.
	 * 
	 * @param theStatement
	 *            to be added
	 * @return if any statements were associated
	 */
	public boolean includeStatement(Statement theStatement);

	/**
	 * Excludes a statement from the labeled group.
	 * 
	 * @param subj
	 *            of the statement to be excluded (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @param pred
	 *            of the statement to be excluded (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @param obj
	 *            of the statement to be excluded (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @param graph
	 *            of the statement to be excleded (may be null for wildcards)
	 * @return if any statements were excluded
	 */
	public boolean excludeStatement(Resource subj, URI pred, Value obj,
			URI graph);

	/**
	 * Excludes a statement from the labeled group.
	 * 
	 * @param theStatement
	 *            to be excluded
	 * @return if any statements were excluded
	 */
	public boolean excludeStatement(Statement theStatement);

	/**
	 * Gets the RDF store connection to contains the labeled group.
	 * 
	 * @return connection to RDF store to contains the labeled group
	 */
	public RdfStoreConnection getRdfStoreConnection();
}