org.apache.uima.resource.metadata
Interface Precondition

All Superinterfaces:

Cloneable, MetaDataObject, Serializable, XMLizable

All Known Subinterfaces:

LanguagePrecondition, MimeTypePrecondition, SimplePrecondition

public interface Precondition
extends MetaDataObject

A Precondition of a Resource is a condition that an Entity and/or its analysis in the CAS must satisfy before that Entity can be processed by the Resource.

Currently the framework does not fully support Preconditions. Only the LanguagePrecondition subinterface is used.

As with all MetaDataObjects, a Precondition may or may not be modifiable. An application can find out by calling the MetaDataObject.isModifiable() method.

Method Summary

boolean	evaluate(CAS aCAS) Determines if this precondition is satisfied by a CAS.
String	getPreconditionType() Gets the type of this precondition.

Methods inherited from interface org.apache.uima.resource.metadata.MetaDataObject

clone, equals, getAttributeValue, getSourceUrl, getSourceUrlString, isModifiable, listAttributes, setAttributeValue, setSourceUrl

Methods inherited from interface org.apache.uima.util.XMLizable

buildFromXMLElement, buildFromXMLElement, toXML, toXML, toXML, toXML

Method Detail

getPreconditionType

String getPreconditionType()

Gets the type of this precondition. Each sub-interface of Precondition has its own standard type identifier String. These identifier Strings are used instead of Java class names in order to ease portability of metadata to other languages.

Returns:

the type identifier String for this precondition

evaluate

boolean evaluate(CAS aCAS)

Determines if this precondition is satisfied by a CAS.

Parameters:

aCAS - the CAS against which to evaluate this precondition

Returns:

true if and only if the CAS satisfies this precondition.