Interface Attribute

public interface Attribute
extends Cloneable, Serializable

This interface represents an attribute associated with a named object.

In a directory, named objects can have associated with them attributes. The Attribute interface represents an attribute associated with a named object. An attribute contains 0 or more, possibly null, values. The attribute values can be ordered or unordered (see isOrdered()). If the values are unordered, no duplicates are allowed. If the values are ordered, duplicates are allowed.

The content and representation of an attribute and its values is defined by the attribute's schema. The schema contains information about the attribute's syntax and other properties about the attribute. See getAttributeDefinition() and getAttributeSyntaxDefinition() for details regarding how to get schema information about an attribute if the underlying directory service supports schemas.

Equality of two attributes is determined by the implementation class. A simple implementation can use Object.equals() to determine equality of attribute values, while a more sophisticated implementation might make use of schema information to determine equality. Similarly, one implementation might provide a static storage structure which simply returns the values passed to its constructor, while another implementation might define get() and getAll(). to get the values dynamically from the directory.

Note that updates to Attribute (such as adding or removing a value) do not affect the corresponding representation of the attribute in the directory. Updates to the directory can only be effected using operations in the DirContext interface.

Fields

serialVersionUID

static final long serialVersionUID

Use serialVersionUID from JNDI 1.1.1 for interoperability.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Methods

getAll

NamingEnumeration<?> getAll()
                     throws NamingException

Retrieves an enumeration of the attribute's values. The behaviour of this enumeration is unspecified if the attribute's values are added, changed, or removed while the enumeration is in progress. If the attribute values are ordered, the enumeration's items will be ordered.

Returns:

A non-null enumeration of the attribute's values. Each element of the enumeration is a possibly null Object. The object's class is the class of the attribute value. The element is null if the attribute's value is null. If the attribute has zero values, an empty enumeration is returned.

Throws:

NamingException - If a naming exception was encountered while retrieving the values.

See Also:

isOrdered()

get

Object get()
    throws NamingException

Retrieves one of this attribute's values. If the attribute has more than one value and is unordered, any one of the values is returned. If the attribute has more than one value and is ordered, the first value is returned.

Returns:

A possibly null object representing one of the attribute's value. It is null if the attribute's value is null.

Throws:

NamingException - If a naming exception was encountered while retrieving the value.

NoSuchElementException - If this attribute has no values.

size

int size()

Retrieves the number of values in this attribute.

Returns:

The nonnegative number of values in this attribute.

getID

String getID()

Retrieves the id of this attribute.

Returns:

The id of this attribute. It cannot be null.

contains

boolean contains(Object attrVal)

Determines whether a value is in the attribute. Equality is determined by the implementation, which may use Object.equals() or schema information to determine equality.

Parameters:

attrVal - The possibly null value to check. If null, check whether the attribute has an attribute value whose value is null.

Returns:

true if attrVal is one of this attribute's values; false otherwise.

See Also:

Object.equals(java.lang.Object), BasicAttribute.equals(java.lang.Object)

add

boolean add(Object attrVal)

Parameters:

attrVal - The new possibly null value to add. If null, null is added as an attribute value.

Returns:

true if a value was added; false otherwise.

remove

boolean remove(Object attrval)

Parameters:

attrval - The possibly null value to remove from this attribute. If null, remove the attribute value that is null.

Returns:

true if the value was removed; false otherwise.

clear

void clear()

Removes all values from this attribute.

getAttributeSyntaxDefinition

DirContext getAttributeSyntaxDefinition()
                                 throws NamingException

Returns:

The attribute's syntax definition. Null if the implementation supports schemas but this particular attribute does not have any schema information.

Throws:

OperationNotSupportedException - If getting the schema is not supported.

NamingException - If a naming exception occurs while getting the schema.

getAttributeDefinition

DirContext getAttributeDefinition()
                           throws NamingException

Returns:

This attribute's schema definition. Null if the implementation supports schemas but this particular attribute does not have any schema information.

Throws:

OperationNotSupportedException - If getting the schema is not supported.

NamingException - If a naming exception occurs while getting the schema.

clone

Object clone()

Makes a copy of the attribute. The copy contains the same attribute values as the original attribute: the attribute values are not themselves cloned. Changes to the copy will not affect the original and vice versa.

Returns:

A non-null copy of the attribute.

isOrdered

boolean isOrdered()

Determines whether this attribute's values are ordered. If an attribute's values are ordered, duplicate values are allowed. If an attribute's values are unordered, they are presented in any order and there are no duplicate values.

Returns:

true if this attribute's values are ordered; false otherwise.

See Also:

get(int), remove(int), add(int, java.lang.Object), set(int, java.lang.Object)

get

Object get(int ix)
    throws NamingException

Retrieves the attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values. This method returns the value at the ix index of the list of attribute values. If the attribute values are unordered, this method returns the value that happens to be at that index.

Parameters:

ix - The index of the value in the ordered list of attribute values. 0 <= ix < size().

Returns:

The possibly null attribute value at index ix; null if the attribute value is null.

Throws:

NamingException - If a naming exception was encountered while retrieving the value.

IndexOutOfBoundsException - If ix is outside the specified range.

remove

Object remove(int ix)

Removes an attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values. This method removes the value at the ix index of the list of attribute values. If the attribute values are unordered, this method removes the value that happens to be at that index. Values located at indices greater than ix are shifted up towards the front of the list (and their indices decremented by one).

Parameters:

ix - The index of the value to remove. 0 <= ix < size().

Returns:

The possibly null attribute value at index ix that was removed; null if the attribute value is null.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - If ix is outside the specified range.

add

void add(int ix,
         Object attrVal)

Adds an attribute value to the ordered list of attribute values. This method adds attrVal to the list of attribute values at index ix. Values located at indices at or greater than ix are shifted down towards the end of the list (and their indices incremented by one). If the attribute values are unordered and already have attrVal, IllegalStateException is thrown.

Parameters:

ix - The index in the ordered list of attribute values to add the new value. 0 <= ix <= size().

attrVal - The possibly null attribute value to add; if null, null is the value added.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - If ix is outside the specified range.

IllegalStateException - If the attribute values are unordered and attrVal is one of those values.

set

Object set(int ix,
           Object attrVal)

Sets an attribute value in the ordered list of attribute values. This method sets the value at the ix index of the list of attribute values to be attrVal. The old value is removed. If the attribute values are unordered, this method sets the value that happens to be at that index to attrVal, unless attrVal is already one of the values. In that case, IllegalStateException is thrown.

Parameters:

ix - The index of the value in the ordered list of attribute values. 0 <= ix < size().

attrVal - The possibly null attribute value to use. If null, 'null' replaces the old value.

Returns:

The possibly null attribute value at index ix that was replaced. Null if the attribute value was null.

Throws:

IndexOutOfBoundsException - If ix is outside the specified range.

IllegalStateException - If attrVal already exists and the attribute values are unordered.