org.eclipse.birt.report.model.api.extension
Interface IReportItem

All Known Implementing Classes:
ReportItem

public interface IReportItem

Represents an instance of a extended report element. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the BIRT-defined report item and this IReportItem.

                         BIRT Extended Item <--> ExtendedItem
 
IReportItem is responsible for storing model data, and for serializing the model state. They can optionally provide generic property access.


Method Summary
 boolean canExport()
          Indicates whether the report item can be allowed to export to library.
 void checkProperty(java.lang.String propName, java.lang.Object value)
          Checks the value of a property prior to setting it.
 IReportItem copy()
          Creates deep copy of the IReportItem and return the new element.
 void deserialize(java.lang.String propName, java.io.ByteArrayInputStream data)
          Deserializes the model.
 IPropertyDefinition[] getMethods()
          Deprecated. by getMethods(String)
 IMethodInfo[] getMethods(java.lang.String methodName)
          Returns the method info list of extension elements.
 java.util.List getPredefinedStyles()
          Gets list of the predefined styles.
 java.lang.Object getProperty(java.lang.String propName)
          Returns the value of a public property.
 IPropertyDefinition[] getPropertyDefinitions()
          Gets the list of all the property definitions that the extended element model has.
 IPropertyDefinition getScriptPropertyDefinition()
          Gets the script property definition of this report item.
 IReportItem getSimpleElement()
          Returns the interface for script operations.
 boolean refreshPropertyDefinition()
          Justifies whether the property list of the extended element is changed.
 java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream serialize(java.lang.String propName)
          Serializes the model given the property name.
 void setHandle(ExtendedItemHandle handle)
          Sets the handle of this report item.
 void setProperty(java.lang.String propName, java.lang.Object value)
          Sets the value of a property.
 java.util.List validate()
          Performs a semantic check on the report item.
 

Method Detail

serialize

java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream serialize(java.lang.String propName)
Serializes the model given the property name. The property is visible to BIRT and its type is XMLPropertyType. The serialized data must be Unicode text. XML is preferred, but any text format is legal. If the model is binary, then one solution is to serialize the model as Base64 encoded data.

Parameters:
propName - the model property name to serialize
Returns:
a byte array that represents the serialized extended element model.

deserialize

void deserialize(java.lang.String propName,
                 java.io.ByteArrayInputStream data)
                 throws ExtendedElementException
Deserializes the model. The property is visible to BIRT and its type is XMLPropertyType. The data provided will be that created by the serialize method. A well-written extension will handle two exceptional cases. First, it will handle all previous versions of this same extension. Second, it will handle erroneous input, perhaps created when a human editied the saved state by hand.

Parameters:
propName - the model property name to deserialize
data - a byte array stream containing the serialized data
Throws:
ExtendedElementException - if the serialized model is invalid

getPropertyDefinitions

IPropertyDefinition[] getPropertyDefinitions()
Gets the list of all the property definitions that the extended element model has.

Returns:
the dynamic property list of the extended element model

getProperty

java.lang.Object getProperty(java.lang.String propName)
Returns the value of a public property. Returns null if the property is not defined. If the IReportItemFactory class defines a property, then this method must accept that property name.

Property names can be separated with dots and can include array indexes. For example: barColors[1].pattern. This will occur if a property is defined as a list or structure.

If the report element support styles or inheritance, then a return value of null means that the value should be inherited. BIRT will use its normal inheritance mechanisms to locate the value. If the extended element does not support inheritance or styles, then this method must return the value of each property, including defaults if the value has not yet been set.

Parameters:
propName - the name of the property to get
Returns:
the property value as one of the supported BIRT property types: String, Integer, Double, BigDecimal, etc.

checkProperty

void checkProperty(java.lang.String propName,
                   java.lang.Object value)
                   throws ExtendedElementException
Checks the value of a property prior to setting it. BIRT calls this operation before setting the value. See the setProperty method for details on the process for setting a property value.

Parameters:
propName - the name of the property to check
value - the new property value as one of the supported BIRT types
Throws:
ExtendedElementException - if the property value is invalid or the property name is invalid
See Also:
getProperty(java.lang.String)

setProperty

void setProperty(java.lang.String propName,
                 java.lang.Object value)
Sets the value of a property. This operation is done in response to a BIRT-defined command. That is, this method call is the result of an application using the BIRT Model API to set a property. BIRT will have validated the property using the checkProperty method, and will have created a command to set the property.

If this element supports styles or inheritance, then the value can be null, which means to clear the property value so that it will inherit from the base element or the style.

Parameters:
propName - the name of the property to set
value - the new property value as one of the supported BIRT types
See Also:
getProperty(java.lang.String), checkProperty(java.lang.String, java.lang.Object)

validate

java.util.List validate()
Performs a semantic check on the report item. The extended element can use this to validate the values of properties, to ensure that a set of values are consistent, etc.

Returns:
List List contains ExtendedElementException.

copy

IReportItem copy()
Creates deep copy of the IReportItem and return the new element.

Returns:
the deep copied IReportItem

refreshPropertyDefinition

boolean refreshPropertyDefinition()
Justifies whether the property list of the extended element is changed.

Returns:
true if the property list of the extended element is changed, otherwise false

getMethods

IPropertyDefinition[] getMethods()
Deprecated. by getMethods(String)

Returns the method definition list of extension elements. Each object in the list is instance of IElementPropertyDefn.

Returns:
the method definition list.

getScriptPropertyDefinition

IPropertyDefinition getScriptPropertyDefinition()
Gets the script property definition of this report item.

Returns:
the script property definition of this report item

getPredefinedStyles

java.util.List getPredefinedStyles()
Gets list of the predefined styles. Each one in the list can be one of the following instance:

  • String
  • IStyleDeclaration

    Returns:

  • getSimpleElement

    IReportItem getSimpleElement()
    Returns the interface for script operations. If the extension element want to provide multi row data function, need to extend simpleapi.IMultiRowItem and extension.MultiRowItem; If not, need to extend simpleapi.IReportItem and extension.SimpleRowItem.

    Returns:
    the simple interface

    getMethods

    IMethodInfo[] getMethods(java.lang.String methodName)
    Returns the method info list of extension elements. Each object in the list is instance of IMethodInfo.

    Parameters:
    methodName - the method name
    Returns:
    the method definition list.

    setHandle

    void setHandle(ExtendedItemHandle handle)
    Sets the handle of this report item.

    Parameters:
    handle - extended item handle

    canExport

    boolean canExport()
    Indicates whether the report item can be allowed to export to library.

    Returns:
    true if the report item can be allowed to export to library; false otherwise.


    Copyright © 2008 Actuate Corp. All rights reserved.