001    /*
002     *    GeoAPI - Java interfaces for OGC/ISO standards
003     *    http://www.geoapi.org
004     *
005     *    Copyright (C) 2006-2012 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
006     *    All Rights Reserved. http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/legal
007     *
008     *    Permission to use, copy, and modify this software and its documentation, with
009     *    or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby
010     *    granted, provided that you include the following on ALL copies of the software
011     *    and documentation or portions thereof, including modifications, that you make:
012     *
013     *    1. The full text of this NOTICE in a location viewable to users of the
014     *       redistributed or derivative work.
015     *    2. Notice of any changes or modifications to the OGC files, including the
016     *       date changes were made.
017     *
018     *    THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS," AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS MAKE
019     *    NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
020     *    TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT
021     *    THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY
022     *    PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.
023     *
024     *    COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR
025     *    CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION.
026     *
027     *    The name and trademarks of copyright holders may NOT be used in advertising or
028     *    publicity pertaining to the software without specific, written prior permission.
029     *    Title to copyright in this software and any associated documentation will at all
030     *    times remain with copyright holders.
031     */
032    package org.opengis.feature.type;
033    
034    import org.opengis.feature.Association;
035    
036    /**
037     * The type of an association; used to describe kind of relationship between two entities.
038     * <p>
039     * The notion of an "association" is similar to that of an association in UML
040     * and is used to model a relationship among two attributes. See the javadoc for
041     * {@link Association} for more info on the semantics of associations.
042     * </p>
043     * <p>
044     * An association is used to relate one attribute to another. The type of the
045     * association specifies the type of the related attribute with the
046     * {@link #getRelatedType()} method.
047     * </p>
048     *
049     * @author Jody Garnett, Refractions Research, Inc.
050     * @author Justin Deoliveira, The Open Planning Project
051     */
052    public interface AssociationType extends PropertyType {
053    
054        /**
055         * Override of {@link PropertyType#getSuper()} which type narrows to
056         * {@link AssociationType}.
057         *
058         * @see PropertyType#getSuper()
059         */
060        AssociationType getSuper();
061    
062        /**
063         * The attribute type of the related attribute in the association.
064         *
065         * @return The type of the related attribute.
066         */
067        AttributeType getRelatedType();
068    
069        /**
070         * Override of {@link PropertyType#getBinding()} which specifies that this
071         * method should return <code>getRelatedType().getBinding()</code>, that is
072         * it returns the binding of the related type.
073         */
074        Class<?> getBinding();
075    }