PropertyTerm.java

/** A class representing a property term factory.

 Copyright (c) 1997-2009 The Regents of the University of California.
 All rights reserved.
 Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and without
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 PT_COPYRIGHT_VERSION_2
 COPYRIGHTENDKEY


 */

package ptolemy.data.properties.lattice;

import ptolemy.graph.InequalityTerm;
import ptolemy.kernel.util.IllegalActionException;


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//// PropertyTerm

/**
 An interface for a property term.
 A term is either a constant, a variable, or a function. 

 @author Man-kit Leung
 @version $Id$
 @since Ptolemy II 7.1
 @Pt.ProposedRating Red (cxh)
 @Pt.AcceptedRating Red (cxh)
 */
public interface PropertyTerm extends InequalityTerm {

    /** Return an array of constants contained in this term.
     *  If this term is a variable, return an array of size zero;
     *  if this term is a constant, return an array of size one that
     *  contains this constants; if this term is a function, return an
     *  array containing all the constants in the function.
     *  @return An array of InequalityTerms
     */
    public InequalityTerm[] getConstants();

    /** Get the value of this PropertyTerm.
     *  @return the value of this PropertyTerm.   
     */
    public Object getValue() throws IllegalActionException;

    /**
     * Return true if this property term is effective.
     * @return true if this property term is effective.
     * @see #setEffective(boolean)
     */
    public boolean isEffective();

    /**
     * Set the effectiveness of this property term to the specified value.
     * @param isEffective The specified effective value.
     * @see #isEffective()
     */
    public void setEffective(boolean isEffective);
}