Package org.nuxeo.ecm.core.schema.types

Interface Type

All Superinterfaces:
Serializable
All Known Subinterfaces:
ComplexType, CompositeType, DocumentType, ListType, Schema, SimpleType
All Known Implementing Classes:
AbstractType, AnyType, BinaryType, BooleanType, ComplexTypeImpl, CompositeTypeImpl, DateType, DocumentTypeImpl, DoubleType, IntegerType, ListTypeImpl, LongType, PrimitiveType, SchemaImpl, SimpleTypeImpl, StringType
public interface Type extends Serializable
A Type object is used to describe some ECM content.

There are two groups of content types:

  • primitive types - these are builtin types used to describe simple values like string, integers, dates etc
  • custom types - these are used defined types based on the primitive types
Custom types are structured in two groups:
  • simple types - constrained primitive types. Constraints are specific to each primitive type.
    For example the "string" type may have constraints like maximum length, regular expression pattern etc.
    So you can define a custom simple type as being a string that match the regular expression .+@.+
  • complex types - structured types that can be expressed as a tree like structure of other primitive, simple or complex types.
The typing system is mainly inspired from XML schemas.

There is a root type called ANY type.
Apart this special type, each type has a super type (a type from which it is derived)

On top of this typing system there are two high level content types:

  • schemas - a schema is a complex that can be used to form composite types
    Because multiple schemas may live together in a composite type they must provide a namespace to avoid name collisions inside a composite type
  • composite types - a composite type is made of several schemas.
    You can see a composite type as a type derived from multiple complex super types.
    Composite types are used to define ECM documents
Type names must not contains a : character. This character may be used internally to prefix the type name so it must not be used in the type name.

  • Method Details

    • getName

      String getName()
      Gets the name of this type.
      Returns:
      the type name

    • getSchemaName

      String getSchemaName()
      Gets the local name of this type.
      Returns:
      the local name

    • getSchema

      Schema getSchema()
      Gets the schema defining this type.

    • getSuperType

      Type getSuperType()
      Gets the super type.
      Returns:
      the super type or null if this is a primitive type

    • getTypeHierarchy

      Type[] getTypeHierarchy()
      Gets the entire hierarchy of super-types.

      The array is ordered as follows:

      • the direct super type is the first element,
      • the super super type is the second element,
      • and so on.

      The returned array is never null. An empty array is returned in the case of ANY type.

      Returns:
      an array containing the supertypes of this type

    • isSuperTypeOf

      boolean isSuperTypeOf(Type type)
      Tests whether the given type is derived from this type.
      Parameters:
      type - the type to test
      Returns:
      true if the given type is derived from this type, false otherwise

    • isSimpleType

      boolean isSimpleType()
      Tests whether this type is a simple type.
      Returns:
      true if this type is a simple type, false otherwise

    • isComplexType

      boolean isComplexType()
      Tests whether this type is a complex type.
      Returns:
      true if this type is a complex type, false otherwise

    • isListType

      boolean isListType()
      Tests whether this type is a list type.
      Returns:
      true if is a list type, false otherwise

    • isAnyType

      boolean isAnyType()
      Tests whether this type is the ANY type.
      Returns:
      true if it is the ANY type, false otherwise

    • isCompositeType

      boolean isCompositeType()
      Tests whether this is a composite type.
      Returns:
      true if this is a composite type, false otherwise

    • validate

      boolean validate(Object object) throws TypeException
      Tests whether the given object is of this type.
      Parameters:
      object - the object to test
      Returns:
      true if the given object if of this type, false otherwise
      Throws:
      TypeException - if an error occurs trying to retrieve the supertypes

    • decode

      Object decode(String string)
      Decodes the string representation into an object of this type.

      Returns null if the string can not be decoded.

      Parameters:
      string - the string to decode
      Returns:
      the converted object that can be use as a value for an object of this type or null if the given object cannot be converted

    • encode

      String encode(Object object)
      Encodes the given object that is assumed to be of this type into a string representation.

      Null is returned if the object cannot be converted.

      Parameters:
      object - the object to convert
      Returns:
      the string representation of the given object or null if object cannot be converted

    • newInstance

      Object newInstance()
      Creates a new instance according to this type and filled with default values.

    • convert

      Object convert(Object value) throws TypeException
      Converts the given value to an object compatible with the associated type.
      Parameters:
      value - the value to convert
      Returns:
      the converted value
      Throws:
      TypeException - if the value to convert is not compatible with the associated type

    • getConstraints

      Set<Constraint> getConstraints()
      Returns:
      this type's constraints
      Since:
      7.1

    • getObjectResolver

      ObjectResolver getObjectResolver()
      Provides a ObjectResolver if this type is a reference to an external entity.
      Returns:
      a resolver if available, null otherwise.
      Since:
      7.1