Module org.opengis.geoapi

Package org.opengis.feature

Interface FeatureAssociationRole

All Superinterfaces:

IdentifiedType, PropertyType

@Classifier(METACLASS)
@UML(identifier="FeatureAssociationRole",
     specification=ISO_19109)
public interface FeatureAssociationRole
extends PropertyType

Indicates the role played by the association between two features. In the area of geographic information, there exist multiple kinds of associations:

• Aggregation represents associations between features which can exist even if the aggregate is destroyed.
• Composition represents relationships where the owned features are destroyed together with the composite.
• Spatial association represents spatial or topological relationships that may exist between features (e.g. “east of”).
• Temporal association may represent for example a sequence of changes over time involving the replacement of some feature instances by other feature instances.

Since:

3.1

See Also:

• FeatureAssociation

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
int	getMaximumOccurs()	Returns the maximum number of occurrences of the association within its containing entity.
int	getMinimumOccurs()	Returns the minimum number of occurrences of the association within its containing entity.
GenericName	getName()	Returns the name of this association role.
FeatureType	getValueType()	Returns the type of feature values.
FeatureAssociation	newInstance()	Creates a new feature association instance of this role.

Methods inherited from interface IdentifiedType

getDefinition, getDescription, getDesignation

Method Details

getName

@UML(identifier="name",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19109)
GenericName getName()

Returns the name of this association role. For FeatureAssociationRole, the name is mandatory.

Specified by:

getName in interface IdentifiedType

Returns:

the association role name.

getValueType

@UML(identifier="valueType",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19109)
FeatureType getValueType()

Returns the type of feature values.

Returns:

the type of feature values.

getMinimumOccurs

@UML(identifier="cardinality",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19109)
int getMinimumOccurs()

Returns the minimum number of occurrences of the association within its containing entity. The returned value is greater than or equal to zero.

Returns:

the minimum number of occurrences of the association within its containing entity.

getMaximumOccurs

@UML(identifier="cardinality",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19109)
int getMaximumOccurs()

Returns the maximum number of occurrences of the association within its containing entity. The returned value is greater than or equal to the getMinimumOccurs() value. If there is no maximum, then this method returns Integer.MAX_VALUE.

Returns:

the maximum number of occurrences of the association within its containing entity, or Integer.MAX_VALUE if none.

newInstance

FeatureAssociation newInstance()
                        throws UnsupportedOperationException

Creates a new feature association instance of this role.

Returns:

a new feature association instance.

Throws:

UnsupportedOperationException - if this role does not support new instance creation.