tribble.repository
Interface Repository<DocType extends Document>

All Superinterfaces:

java.io.Closeable

All Known Subinterfaces:

RepositoryReader<DocType>, RepositoryWriter<DocType>

public interface Repository<DocType extends Document>
extends java.io.Closeable

Generic document repository (base class).

This interface contains the basic methods for implementing a document repository application. Such an application is responsible for managing a document storage system (or repository) that allows clients to store or retrieve documents from it. How the repository system is implemented and what exactly constitutes a document is determined by each particular subclass that implements this interface.

A document consists of content data (such as an image, text, or other kind of user data) and zero or more properties. Typically, the properties comprise the keys used to store the document in the repository system.

Implementations of a repository system must subclass either the RepositoryReader or RepositoryWriter class, or both. Repository reader implementations must also subclass the Document class, while repository writer implementations must subclass the StorableDocument class.

Configuration properties specific to the repository implementation are passed to the initialize() method in order to initialize the repository reader or writer appropriately. Once the repository reader or writer has been properly initialized, calling its open() method establishes a connection to the repository system. Documents can then be retrieved from or stored into the repository. After all repository operations have been completed, the close() method must be called, which closes the connection to the repository system and deallocates any resources used by the reader/writer object.

Most of the methods in these classes throw an IOException if an error occurs.

Note: This requires Java 1.5 or later.

Source code:

http://david.tribble.com/src/java/tribble/repository/Repository.java

Documentation:

http://david.tribble.com/docs/tribble/repository/Repository.html

Since:

2008-04-03

Version:

API 2.0, $Revision: 1.2 $ $Date: 2008/04/03 23:02:38 $

Author:

David R. Tribble (david@tribble.com)
Copyright ©2008 by David R. Tribble, all rights reserved.
Permission is granted to any person or entity except those designated by the United States Department of State as a terrorist or terrorist government or agency, to use and distribute this source code provided that the original copyright notice remains present and unaltered.

See Also:

Document, RepositoryReader, RepositoryWriter

Field Summary

static java.lang.String

REV

Method Summary

void	close() Close the connection and detach the repository system from this repository handler.
DocumentProperty[]	getDefaultProperties() Retrieve the default properties for documents managed by this repository handler.
void	initialize(java.util.Hashtable props) Load the application configuration properties for this repository handler.
void	open(java.lang.String name) Establish a connection and attach a repository system to this repository handler.

Field Detail

REV

static final java.lang.String REV

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

initialize

void initialize(java.util.Hashtable props)
                throws java.io.IOException

Load the application configuration properties for this repository handler. This must be the first method to be called, prior to calling open() or any other method.

The name and format of the properties is determined by the actual implementation of the repository system. Typically, properties specify the details required to establish a connection to the repository system, e.g., host or path names, user-ID and password credentials, database names, and other similar information. The properties passed to this method thus establish a specific context in which access to the repository system takes place. This context exists for all of the operations occurring between the calls to open() and close().

Certain implementations might not require any context information at all prior to calling open(), in which case this method may accept an empty or null Hashtable object.

Implementations may allow this method to be called more than once. This could be useful in cases where configuration information is taken from multiple sources.

Parameters:

props - Configuration properties (hash table) to initialize the repository reader. Typically this is a Properties object. Some implementations may allow this to be empty or null.

Throws:

java.io.IOException - Thrown if a required property is missing or malformed.

Since:

API 2.0, 2008-04-03

open

void open(java.lang.String name)
          throws java.io.IOException

Establish a connection and attach a repository system to this repository handler.

Parameters:

name - Name of the document collection within the repository to be opened. The format and meaning of this name is determined by the implementation. Some implementations may allow this to be empty ("") or null.

Throws:

java.io.IOException - Thrown if an error occurs while opening the repository system.

java.lang.IllegalStateException - (unchecked) Thrown if initialize() has not been called yet.

Since:

API 2.0, 2008-04-19

close

void close()

Close the connection and detach the repository system from this repository handler. Resources used by this repository handler are deallocated.

Any subsequent attempts to use this repository handler without calling open() again will result in exceptions.

Note that this method does not throw any exceptions.

Specified by:

close in interface java.io.Closeable

Since:

API 2.0, 2008-04-03

getDefaultProperties

DocumentProperty[] getDefaultProperties()
                                        throws java.io.IOException

Retrieve the default properties for documents managed by this repository handler.

Note that implementations are not required to support default document properties, in which case this method can throw an UnsupportedOperationException or simply return null.

Returns:

The default document properties for this repository handler.

Throws:

java.lang.IllegalStateException - (unchecked) Thrown if initialize() has not been called yet.

java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException - (unchecked) This operation is not supported, i.e., the implementation does not support default document properties.

java.io.IOException

Since:

API 2.0, 2008-04-03