Module org.opengis.geoapi

Package org.opengis.util

Interface RecordType

All Superinterfaces:

Type

@Classifier(METACLASS)
@UML(identifier="RecordType",
     specification=ISO_19103)
public interface RecordType
extends Type

The type definition of a record. A RecordType defines dynamically constructed data type. It is identified by a type name and contains an arbitrary number of fields. Fields are (name, type) pairs where the type is often the wrapper for a primitive type or a String, but can also be another RecordType. Field values can be read and written but cannot be added or removed. This approach ensures that once a RecordType is constructed, it is immutable.

Comparison with features and Java reflection

If we think about RecordType as similar to a simple feature (ISO 19109) or a Java Class with public fields, then we can establish the following equivalence table:

Equivalences between records, features and Java constructs

ISO 19103	ISO 19109	Similar to Java
Record	Feature	Object
Record.getRecordType()	Feature.getType()	Object.getClass()
RecordType	FeatureType	Class
getTypeName()	FeatureType.getName()	Class.getName()
getContainer()		Class.getPackage()
getFieldTypes()	FeatureType.getProperties(boolean)	Class.getFields()
RecordType.locate(MemberName)	getProperty(String)	Class.getField(String)
RecordType.isInstance(Record)		Class.isInstance(Object)
RecordSchema		Package

Since:

2.1

See Also:

• Record
• Record.getRecordType()

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
RecordSchema	getContainer()	Deprecated. The RecordSchema interface has been removed in the 2015 revision of ISO 19103 standard.
Map<MemberName,Type>	getFieldTypes()	Returns the dictionary of all (name, type) pairs in this record type.
default Set<MemberName>	getMembers()	Returns the names of fields defined in this RecordType's dictionary.
default Map<MemberName,Type>	getMemberTypes()	Deprecated. Renamed getFieldTypes() in the 2015 revision of ISO 19103.
TypeName	getTypeName()	Returns the name that identifies this record type.
boolean	isInstance(Record record)	Determines if the specified record is compatible with this record type.
default TypeName	locate(MemberName name)	Looks up the provided field name and returns the associated type name.

Methods inherited from interface org.opengis.util.Type

toJavaType

Method Details

getTypeName

@UML(identifier="typeName",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19103,
     version=2005)
TypeName getTypeName()

Returns the name that identifies this record type. This is similar to class name in the Java language.

Specified by:

getTypeName in interface Type

Returns:

the name that identifies this record type.

getContainer

@Deprecated(since="3.1")
@UML(identifier="schema",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19103,
     version=2005)
RecordSchema getContainer()

Deprecated.

The RecordSchema interface has been removed in the 2015 revision of ISO 19103 standard.

Returns the schema that contains this record type.

Returns:

the schema that contains this record type.

getFieldTypes

@UML(identifier="fieldType",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19103)
Map<MemberName,Type> getFieldTypes()

Returns the dictionary of all (name, type) pairs in this record type. The dictionary shall contain at least one entry and should be unmodifiable. This is similar to class fields in the Java language.

Returns:

the dictionary of all (name, type) pairs in this record type. Shall contain at least one entry.

Since:

3.1

See Also:

• Record.getFields()

getMemberTypes

@Deprecated(since="3.1")
@UML(identifier="memberType",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19103,
     version=2005)
default Map<MemberName,Type> getMemberTypes()

Deprecated.

Renamed getFieldTypes() in the 2015 revision of ISO 19103.

Returns the dictionary of all (name, type) pairs in this record type. The dictionary should be unmodifiable. If there are no fields, this method returns the empty map.

Returns:

the dictionary of all (name, type) pairs in this record type.

See Also:

• Record.getAttributes()

getMembers

default Set<MemberName> getMembers()

Returns the names of fields defined in this RecordType's dictionary. This is a convenience method functionally equivalent to the following code:

return getFieldTypes().keySet();

Returns:

the set of field names defined in this RecordType's dictionary.

Convenience extension to OGC/ISO standard

This is a convenience shortcut for a common operation.

locate

@UML(identifier="locate",
     obligation=MANDATORY,
     specification=ISO_19103,
     version=2005)
default TypeName locate(MemberName name)

Looks up the provided field name and returns the associated type name. If the field name is not defined in this record type, then this method returns null. This method is functionally equivalent to the following code:

Type type = getFieldTypes().get(name);
return (type != null) ? type.getTypeName() : null;

This is similar to fetching a class field in the Java language.

Parameters:

name - the name of the field to lookup.

Returns:

the type of the field of the given name, or null.

See Also:

• getFieldTypes()
• Record.get(MemberName)

Departure from OGC/ISO standard for historical reason

This method was provided in ISO 19103:2003 and removed in ISO 10103:2015. GeoAPI keeps it for compatibility reasons, since this method can be seen as a shortcut to other methods.

isInstance

boolean isInstance(Record record)

Determines if the specified record is compatible with this record type. This method returns false if the given record is null, or if the following condition is false:

return (record != null) && getMembers().containsAll(record.getFields().keySet());

If the above condition is true, it may or may not be sufficient for this method to return true. Implementations are free to use more restrictive criteria. In particular, it is valid to implement this method like below:

return (record != null) && equals(record.getRecordType());

The containsAll approach accepts "sub-types" (defined as records with additional fields) in a way similar to assignement-compatibility check in the Java language, while the equals approach accepts only the exact same record definition.

Parameters:

record - the record to test for compatibility with this type, or null.

Returns:

true if the given record is non-null and compatible with this record type.

Convenience extension to OGC/ISO standard

This method provides no additional information compared to the ISO standard methods, but is declared in GeoAPI for convenience.