public class

BasicAttribute

extends Object
implements Attribute
java.lang.Object
   ↳ javax.naming.directory.BasicAttribute

Class Overview

This class provides a basic implementation of the Attribute interface.

This implementation does not support the schema methods getAttributeDefinition() and getAttributeSyntaxDefinition(). They simply throw OperationNotSupportedException. Subclasses of BasicAttribute should override these methods if they support them.

The BasicAttribute class by default uses Object.equals() to determine equality of attribute values when testing for equality or when searching for values, except when the value is an array. For an array, each element of the array is checked using Object.equals(). Subclasses of BasicAttribute can make use of schema information when doing similar equality checks by overriding methods in which such use of schema is meaningful. Similarly, the BasicAttribute class by default returns the values passed to its constructor and/or manipulated using the add/remove methods. Subclasses of BasicAttribute can override get() and getAll() to get the values dynamically from the directory (or implement the Attribute interface directly instead of subclassing BasicAttribute).

Note that updates to BasicAttribute (such as adding or removing a value) does not affect the corresponding representation of the attribute in the directory. Updates to the directory can only be effected using operations in the DirContext interface.

A BasicAttribute instance is not synchronized against concurrent multithreaded access. Multiple threads trying to access and modify a BasicAttribute should lock the object.

Summary

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Inherited Constants
From interface javax.naming.directory.Attribute
Fields
protected String attrID Holds the attribute's id.
protected boolean ordered A flag for recording whether this attribute's values are ordered.
protected Vector<Object> values Holds the attribute's values.
Public Constructors
BasicAttribute(String id)
Constructs a new instance of an unordered attribute with no value.
BasicAttribute(String id, Object value)
Constructs a new instance of an unordered attribute with a single value.
BasicAttribute(String id, boolean ordered)
Constructs a new instance of a possibly ordered attribute with no value.
BasicAttribute(String id, Object value, boolean ordered)
Constructs a new instance of a possibly ordered attribute with a single value.
Public Methods
void add(int ix, Object attrVal)
Adds an attribute value to the ordered list of attribute values.
boolean add(Object attrVal)
Adds a new value to this attribute.
void clear()
Removes all values from this attribute.
Object clone()
Creates and returns a copy of this object.
boolean contains(Object attrVal)
Determines whether a value is in this attribute.
boolean equals(Object obj)
Determines whether obj is equal to this attribute.
Object get(int ix)
Retrieves the attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values.
Object get()
Retrieves one of this attribute's values.
NamingEnumeration<?> getAll()
Retrieves an enumeration of this attribute's values.
DirContext getAttributeDefinition()
Retrieves this attribute's schema definition.
DirContext getAttributeSyntaxDefinition()
Retrieves the syntax definition associated with this attribute.
String getID()
Retrieves the id of this attribute.
int hashCode()
Calculates the hash code of this attribute.
boolean isOrdered()
Determines whether this attribute's values are ordered.
Object remove(int ix)
Removes an attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values.
boolean remove(Object attrval)
Removes a specified value from this attribute.
Object set(int ix, Object attrVal)
Sets an attribute value in the ordered list of attribute values.
int size()
Retrieves the number of values in this attribute.
String toString()
Generates the string representation of this attribute.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object
From interface javax.naming.directory.Attribute

Fields

protected String attrID

Holds the attribute's id. It is initialized by the public constructor and cannot be null unless methods in BasicAttribute that use attrID have been overridden.

protected boolean ordered

A flag for recording whether this attribute's values are ordered.

protected Vector<Object> values

Holds the attribute's values. Initialized by public constructors. Cannot be null unless methods in BasicAttribute that use values have been overridden.

Public Constructors

public BasicAttribute (String id)

Constructs a new instance of an unordered attribute with no value.

Parameters
id The attribute's id. It cannot be null.

public BasicAttribute (String id, Object value)

Constructs a new instance of an unordered attribute with a single value.

Parameters
id The attribute's id. It cannot be null.
value The attribute's value. If null, a null value is added to the attribute.

public BasicAttribute (String id, boolean ordered)

Constructs a new instance of a possibly ordered attribute with no value.

Parameters
id The attribute's id. It cannot be null.
ordered true means the attribute's values will be ordered; false otherwise.

public BasicAttribute (String id, Object value, boolean ordered)

Constructs a new instance of a possibly ordered attribute with a single value.

Parameters
id The attribute's id. It cannot be null.
value The attribute's value. If null, a null value is added to the attribute.
ordered true means the attribute's values will be ordered; false otherwise.

Public Methods

public void add (int ix, Object attrVal)

Adds an attribute value to the ordered list of attribute values. This method adds attrVal to the list of attribute values at index ix. Values located at indices at or greater than ix are shifted down towards the end of the list (and their indices incremented by one). If the attribute values are unordered and already have attrVal, IllegalStateException is thrown.

Parameters
ix The index in the ordered list of attribute values to add the new value. 0 <= ix <= size().
attrVal The possibly null attribute value to add; if null, null is the value added.

public boolean add (Object attrVal)

Adds a new value to this attribute.

By default, Object.equals() is used when comparing attrVal with this attribute's values except when attrVal is an array. For an array, each element of the array is checked using Object.equals(). A subclass may use schema information to determine equality.

Parameters
attrVal The new possibly null value to add. If null, null is added as an attribute value.
Returns
  • true if a value was added; false otherwise.

public void clear ()

Removes all values from this attribute.

public Object clone ()

Creates and returns a copy of this object. The precise meaning of "copy" may depend on the class of the object. The general intent is that, for any object x, the expression: 

 x.clone() != x
will be true, and that the expression: 
 x.clone().getClass() == x.getClass()
will be true, but these are not absolute requirements. While it is typically the case that: 
 x.clone().equals(x)
will be true, this is not an absolute requirement.

By convention, the returned object should be obtained by calling super.clone. If a class and all of its superclasses (except Object) obey this convention, it will be the case that x.clone().getClass() == x.getClass().

By convention, the object returned by this method should be independent of this object (which is being cloned). To achieve this independence, it may be necessary to modify one or more fields of the object returned by super.clone before returning it. Typically, this means copying any mutable objects that comprise the internal "deep structure" of the object being cloned and replacing the references to these objects with references to the copies. If a class contains only primitive fields or references to immutable objects, then it is usually the case that no fields in the object returned by super.clone need to be modified.

The method clone for class Object performs a specific cloning operation. First, if the class of this object does not implement the interface Cloneable, then a CloneNotSupportedException is thrown. Note that all arrays are considered to implement the interface Cloneable. Otherwise, this method creates a new instance of the class of this object and initializes all its fields with exactly the contents of the corresponding fields of this object, as if by assignment; the contents of the fields are not themselves cloned. Thus, this method performs a "shallow copy" of this object, not a "deep copy" operation.

The class Object does not itself implement the interface Cloneable, so calling the clone method on an object whose class is Object will result in throwing an exception at run time.

Returns
  • a clone of this instance.

public boolean contains (Object attrVal)

Determines whether a value is in this attribute.

By default, Object.equals() is used when comparing attrVal with this attribute's values except when attrVal is an array. For an array, each element of the array is checked using Object.equals(). A subclass may use schema information to determine equality.

Parameters
attrVal The possibly null value to check. If null, check whether the attribute has an attribute value whose value is null.
Returns
  • true if attrVal is one of this attribute's values; false otherwise.

public boolean equals (Object obj)

Determines whether obj is equal to this attribute. Two attributes are equal if their attribute-ids, syntaxes and values are equal. If the attribute values are unordered, the order that the values were added are irrelevant. If the attribute values are ordered, then the order the values must match. If obj is null or not an Attribute, false is returned.

By default Object.equals() is used when comparing the attribute id and its values except when a value is an array. For an array, each element of the array is checked using Object.equals(). A subclass may override this to make use of schema syntax information and matching rules, which define what it means for two attributes to be equal. How and whether a subclass makes use of the schema information is determined by the subclass. If a subclass overrides equals(), it should also override hashCode() such that two attributes that are equal have the same hash code.

Parameters
obj The possibly null object to check.
Returns
  • true if obj is equal to this attribute; false otherwise.
See Also

public Object get (int ix)

Retrieves the attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values. This method returns the value at the ix index of the list of attribute values. If the attribute values are unordered, this method returns the value that happens to be at that index.

Parameters
ix The index of the value in the ordered list of attribute values. 0 <= ix < size().
Returns
  • The possibly null attribute value at index ix; null if the attribute value is null.
Throws
NamingException

public Object get ()

Retrieves one of this attribute's values.

By default, the value returned is one of those passed to the constructor and/or manipulated using the add/replace/remove methods. A subclass may override this to retrieve the value dynamically from the directory.

Returns
  • A possibly null object representing one of the attribute's value. It is null if the attribute's value is null.
Throws
NamingException

public NamingEnumeration<?> getAll ()

Retrieves an enumeration of this attribute's values.

By default, the values returned are those passed to the constructor and/or manipulated using the add/replace/remove methods. A subclass may override this to retrieve the values dynamically from the directory.

Returns
  • A non-null enumeration of the attribute's values. Each element of the enumeration is a possibly null Object. The object's class is the class of the attribute value. The element is null if the attribute's value is null. If the attribute has zero values, an empty enumeration is returned.
Throws
NamingException

public DirContext getAttributeDefinition ()

Retrieves this attribute's schema definition.

This method by default throws OperationNotSupportedException. A subclass should override this method if it supports schema.

Returns
  • This attribute's schema definition. Null if the implementation supports schemas but this particular attribute does not have any schema information.
Throws
NamingException

public DirContext getAttributeSyntaxDefinition ()

Retrieves the syntax definition associated with this attribute.

This method by default throws OperationNotSupportedException. A subclass should override this method if it supports schema.

Returns
  • The attribute's syntax definition. Null if the implementation supports schemas but this particular attribute does not have any schema information.
Throws
NamingException

public String getID ()

Retrieves the id of this attribute.

Returns
  • The id of this attribute. It cannot be null.

public int hashCode ()

Calculates the hash code of this attribute.

The hash code is computed by adding the hash code of the attribute's id and that of all of its values except for values that are arrays. For an array, the hash code of each element of the array is summed. If a subclass overrides hashCode(), it should override equals() as well so that two attributes that are equal have the same hash code.

Returns
  • an int representing the hash code of this attribute.
See Also

public boolean isOrdered ()

Determines whether this attribute's values are ordered. If an attribute's values are ordered, duplicate values are allowed. If an attribute's values are unordered, they are presented in any order and there are no duplicate values.

Returns
  • true if this attribute's values are ordered; false otherwise.

public Object remove (int ix)

Removes an attribute value from the ordered list of attribute values. This method removes the value at the ix index of the list of attribute values. If the attribute values are unordered, this method removes the value that happens to be at that index. Values located at indices greater than ix are shifted up towards the front of the list (and their indices decremented by one).

Parameters
ix The index of the value to remove. 0 <= ix < size().
Returns
  • The possibly null attribute value at index ix that was removed; null if the attribute value is null.

public boolean remove (Object attrval)

Removes a specified value from this attribute.

By default, Object.equals() is used when comparing attrVal with this attribute's values except when attrVal is an array. For an array, each element of the array is checked using Object.equals(). A subclass may use schema information to determine equality.

Parameters
attrval The possibly null value to remove from this attribute. If null, remove the attribute value that is null.
Returns
  • true if the value was removed; false otherwise.

public Object set (int ix, Object attrVal)

Sets an attribute value in the ordered list of attribute values. This method sets the value at the ix index of the list of attribute values to be attrVal. The old value is removed. If the attribute values are unordered, this method sets the value that happens to be at that index to attrVal, unless attrVal is already one of the values. In that case, IllegalStateException is thrown.

Parameters
ix The index of the value in the ordered list of attribute values. 0 <= ix < size().
attrVal The possibly null attribute value to use. If null, 'null' replaces the old value.
Returns
  • The possibly null attribute value at index ix that was replaced. Null if the attribute value was null.

public int size ()

Retrieves the number of values in this attribute.

Returns
  • The nonnegative number of values in this attribute.

public String toString ()

Generates the string representation of this attribute. The string consists of the attribute's id and its values. This string is meant for debugging and not meant to be interpreted programmatically.

Returns
  • The non-null string representation of this attribute.