com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model
Interface RDFList

All Superinterfaces:

RDFNode, Resource

public interface RDFList

extends Resource

Provides a convenience encapsulation for lists formed from chains of RDF statements arranged to form a head/tail cons-cell structure. The properties that form the links between cells, and from cells to values, are specified by a vocabulary interface, so this abstraction is designed to cope equally well with DAML lists, RDF lists, and user-defined lists.

A well-formed list has cells that are made up of three statements: one denoting the rdf:type of the list cell, one denoting the link to the value of the list at that point, and one pointing to the list tail. If a list cell is not well-formed, list operations may fail in unpredictable ways. However, to explicitly check that the list is well-formed at all times is expensive. Therefore the list operates in two modes: in strict mode, the well-formedness of the list is checked at the start of each list operation, and an InvalidListException is thrown if the list is not well- formed. This ensures that list operations are safe, but will slow down processing. In non-strict mode, this checking is switched off, but can be invoked explicitly by clients by calling isValid(). By default, RDF lists are processed in non-strict mode.

Version:

Release ($Id: RDFList.java,v 1.5 2003/06/19 08:19:38 ian_dickinson Exp $)

Author:

Ian Dickinson, HP Labs (email)

Nested Class Summary

static interface	RDFList.ApplyFn Interface that encapsulates a function to apply to every element in a list.
static interface	RDFList.ReduceFn Interface that encapsulates a function to apply to each element of a list in turn, and passing the result to an accumulator.

Method Summary

void	add(RDFNode value) Add the given value to the end of the list.
RDFList	append(java.util.Iterator nodes) Answer a new list that is formed by adding each element of this list to the head of the the list formed from the given nodes.
RDFList	append(RDFList list) Answer a new list that is formed by adding each element of this list to the head of the given list.
void	apply(RDFList.ApplyFn fn) Apply a function to each value in the list in turn.
java.util.List	asJavaList() Answer the contents of this RDF list as a Java list of RDFNode values.
void	concatenate(java.util.Iterator nodes) Add the nodes returned by the given iterator to the end of this list.
void	concatenate(RDFList list) Change the tail of this list to point to the given list, so that this list becomes the list of the concatenation of the elements of both lists.
RDFList	cons(RDFNode value) Return a reference to a new list cell whose head is value and whose tail is this list.
boolean	contains(RDFNode value) Answer true if the given node appears as the value of a value of any of the cells of this list.
RDFList	copy() Answer a list that contains all of the elements of this list in the same order, but is a duplicate copy in the underlying model.
RDFNode	get(int i) Answer the node that is the i'th element of the list, assuming that the head is item zero.
RDFNode	getHead() Answer the value that is at the head of the list.
boolean	getStrict() Answer true lists are operating in strict mode, in which the well- formedness of the list is checked at every operation.
RDFList	getTail() Answer the list that is the tail of this list.
java.lang.String	getValidityErrorMessage() Answer the error message returned by the last failed validity check, if any.
int	indexOf(RDFNode value) Answer the index of the first occurrence of the given value in the list, or -1 if the value is not in the list.
int	indexOf(RDFNode value, int start) Answer the index of the first occurrence of the given value in the list after index start, or -1 if the value is not in the list after the given start point.
boolean	isEmpty() Answer true if this list is the empty list.
boolean	isValid() Answer true if the list is well-formed, by checking that each node is correctly typed, and has a head and tail pointer from the correct vocabulary.
ExtendedIterator	iterator() Answer an iterator over the elements of the list.
ExtendedIterator	mapWith(Map1 fn) Answer an iterator of the elements of this list, to each of which the given map function has been applied.
java.lang.Object	reduce(RDFList.ReduceFn fn, java.lang.Object initial) Apply a function to each value in the list in turn, accumulating the results in an accumulator.
RDFList	remove(RDFNode val) Remove the given value from this list.
void	removeAll() Remove all of the elements of this list from the model.
RDFList	removeHead() Remove the value from the head of the list.
RDFNode	replace(int i, RDFNode value) Replace the value at the i'th position in the list with the given value.
boolean	sameListAs(RDFList list) Answer true if this list has the same elements in the same order as the given list.
RDFNode	setHead(RDFNode value) Update the head of the list to have the given value, and return the previous value.
void	setStrict(boolean strict) Set a flag to indicate whether to strictly check the well-formedness of lists at each operation.
RDFList	setTail(RDFList tail) Update the list cell at the front of the list to have the given list as tail.
int	size() Answer the number of elements in the list.
RDFList	with(RDFNode value) Answer the list that is this list with the given value added to the end of the list.

Methods inherited from interface com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.Resource

abort, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, addProperty, begin, commit, equals, getId, getLocalName, getModel, getNameSpace, getNode, getProperty, getURI, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, hasProperty, isAnon, listProperties, listProperties, removeAll, removeProperties, toString

Methods inherited from interface com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.RDFNode

as, asNode, canAs, inModel, visitWith

Method Detail

size

public int size()

Answer the number of elements in the list.

Returns:

The size of the list as an integer

getHead

public RDFNode getHead()

Answer the value that is at the head of the list.

Returns:

The value that is associated with the head of the list.

Throws:

EmptyListException - if this list is the empty list

setHead

public RDFNode setHead(RDFNode value)

Update the head of the list to have the given value, and return the previous value.

Parameters:

value - The value that will become the value of the list head

Throws:

EmptyListException - if this list is the empty list

getTail

public RDFList getTail()

Answer the list that is the tail of this list.

Returns:

The tail of the list, as a list

Throws:

EmptyListException - if this list is the empty list

setTail

public RDFList setTail(RDFList tail)

Update the list cell at the front of the list to have the given list as tail. The old tail is returned, and remains in the model.

Parameters:

tail - The new tail for this list.

Returns:

The old tail.

isEmpty

public boolean isEmpty()

Answer true if this list is the empty list.

Returns:

True if this is the empty (nil) list, otherwise false.

cons

public RDFList cons(RDFNode value)

Return a reference to a new list cell whose head is value and whose tail is this list.

Parameters:

value - A new value to add to the head of the list

Returns:

The new list, whose head is value

add

public void add(RDFNode value)

Add the given value to the end of the list. This is a side-effecting operation on the underlying model that is only defined if this is not the empty list. If this list is the empty (nil) list, we cannot perform a side-effecting update without changing the URI of this node (from rdf:nilwith(com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.RDFNode) and cons(com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.RDFNode).

Parameters:

value - A value to add to the end of the list

Throws:

EmptyListUpdateException - if an attempt is made to add to the empty list.

with

public RDFList with(RDFNode value)

Answer the list that is this list with the given value added to the end of the list. This operation differs from add(com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.RDFNode) in that it will always work, even on an empty list, but the return value is the updated list. Specifically, in the case of adding a value to the empty list, the returned list will not be the same as this list. Client code should not assume that this is an in-place update, but should ensure that the resulting list is asserted back into the graph into the appropriate relationships.

Parameters:

value - A value to add to the end of the list

Returns:

The list that results from adding a value to the end of this list

get

public RDFNode get(int i)

Answer the node that is the i'th element of the list, assuming that the head is item zero. If the list is too short to have an i'th element, throws a ListIndexException.

Parameters:

i - The index into the list, from 0

Returns:

The list value at index i, or null

Throws:

ListIndexException - if the list has fewer than (i + 1) elements.

replace

public RDFNode replace(int i,
                       RDFNode value)

Replace the value at the i'th position in the list with the given value. If the list is too short to have an i'th element, throws a ListIndexException.

Parameters:

i - The index into the list, from 0

value - The new value to associate with the i'th list element

Returns:

The value that was previously at position i in the list

Throws:

ListIndexException - if the list has fewer than (i + 1) elements.

contains

public boolean contains(RDFNode value)

Answer true if the given node appears as the value of a value of any of the cells of this list.

Parameters:

value - A value to test for

Returns:

True if the list contains value.

indexOf

public int indexOf(RDFNode value)

Answer the index of the first occurrence of the given value in the list, or -1 if the value is not in the list.

Parameters:

value - The value to search for

Returns:

The index of the first occurrence of value in the list, or -1 if not found.

indexOf

public int indexOf(RDFNode value,
                   int start)

Answer the index of the first occurrence of the given value in the list after index start, or -1 if the value is not in the list after the given start point.

Parameters:

value - The value to search for

start - The index into the list to start searching from

Returns:

The index of the first occurrence of value in the list not less than start, or -1 if not found.

Throws:

ListIndexException - if start is greater than the length of the list.

append

public RDFList append(RDFList list)

Answer a new list that is formed by adding each element of this list to the head of the given list. This is a non side-effecting operation on either this list or the given list, but generates a copy of this list. For a more storage efficient alternative, see concatenate.

Parameters:

list - The argument list

Returns:

A new RDFList that contains all of this elements of this list, followed by all of the elements of the given list.

append

public RDFList append(java.util.Iterator nodes)

Answer a new list that is formed by adding each element of this list to the head of the the list formed from the given nodes. This is a non side-effecting operation on either this list or the given list, but generates a copy of this list. For a more storage efficient alternative, see concatenate.

Parameters:

nodes - An iterator whose range is RDFNode

Returns:

A new RDFList that contains all of this elements of this list, followed by all of the elements of the given iterator.

concatenate

public void concatenate(RDFList list)

Change the tail of this list to point to the given list, so that this list becomes the list of the concatenation of the elements of both lists. This is a side-effecting operation on this list; for a non side-effecting alternative, see append(com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.RDFList). Due to the problem of maintaining the URI invariant on a node, this operation will throw an exception if an attempt is made to concatenate onto an empty list. To avoid this, test for an empty list: if true replace the empty list with the argument list, otherwise proceed with the concatenate as usual. An alternative solution is to use append(com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.RDFList) and replace the original list with the return value.

Parameters:

list - The argument list to concatenate to this list

Throws:

EmptyListUpdateException - if this list is the nil list

concatenate

public void concatenate(java.util.Iterator nodes)

Add the nodes returned by the given iterator to the end of this list.

Parameters:

nodes - An iterator whose range is RDFNode

Throws:

EmptyListUpdateException - if this list is the nil list

See Also:

for details on avoiding the empty list update exception.

copy

public RDFList copy()

Answer a list that contains all of the elements of this list in the same order, but is a duplicate copy in the underlying model.

Returns:

A copy of the current list

apply

public void apply(RDFList.ApplyFn fn)

Apply a function to each value in the list in turn.

Parameters:

fn - The function to apply to each list node.

reduce

public java.lang.Object reduce(RDFList.ReduceFn fn,
                               java.lang.Object initial)

Apply a function to each value in the list in turn, accumulating the results in an accumulator. The final value of the accumulator is returned as the value of reduce().

Parameters:

fn - The reduction function to apply

initial - The initial value for the accumulator

Returns:

The final value of the accumulator.

mapWith

public ExtendedIterator mapWith(Map1 fn)

Answer an iterator of the elements of this list, to each of which the given map function has been applied.

Parameters:

fn - A Map function

Returns:

The iterator of the elements of this list mapped with the given map function.

removeHead

public RDFList removeHead()

Remove the value from the head of the list. The tail of the list remains in the model. Note that no changes are made to list cells that point to this list cell as their tail. Immediately following a removeHead operation, such lists will be in a non-valid state.

Returns:

The remainder of the list after the head is removed (i.e. the pre-removal list tail)

removeAll

public void removeAll()

Remove all of the elements of this list from the model.

remove

public RDFList remove(RDFNode val)

Remove the given value from this list. If val does not occur in the list, no action is taken. Since removing the head of the list will invalidate the list head cell, in general the list must return the list that results from this operation. However, in many cases the return value will be the same as the object that this method is invoked on

Parameters:

val - The value to be removed from the list

Returns:

The resulting list, which will be the same as the current list in most cases, except when val occurs at the head of the list.

iterator

public ExtendedIterator iterator()

Answer an iterator over the elements of the list. Note that this iterator does not take a snapshot of the list, so changes to the list statements in the model while iterating will affect the behaviour of the iterator. To get an iterator that is not affected by model changes, use asJavaList().

Returns:

A closable iterator over the elements of the list.

asJavaList

public java.util.List asJavaList()

Answer the contents of this RDF list as a Java list of RDFNode values.

Returns:

The contents of this list as a Java List.

sameListAs

public boolean sameListAs(RDFList list)

Answer true if this list has the same elements in the same order as the given list. Note that the standard equals test just tests for equality of two given list cells. While such a test is sufficient for many purposes, this test provides a broader equality definition, but is correspondingly more expensive to test.

Parameters:

list - The list to test against

Returns:

True if the given list and this list are the same length, and contain equal elements in the same order.

getStrict

public boolean getStrict()

Answer true lists are operating in strict mode, in which the well- formedness of the list is checked at every operation.

Returns:

True lists are being strictly checked.

setStrict

public void setStrict(boolean strict)

Set a flag to indicate whether to strictly check the well-formedness of lists at each operation. Default false. Note that the flag that is manipulated is actually a static: it applies to all lists. However, RDFList is a Java interface, and Java does not permit static methods in interfaces.

Parameters:

strict - The static flag for whether lists will be checked strictly.

isValid

public boolean isValid()

Answer true if the list is well-formed, by checking that each node is correctly typed, and has a head and tail pointer from the correct vocabulary. If the list is invalid, the reason is available via getValidityErrorMessage().

Returns:

True if the list is well-formed.

See Also:

getValidityErrorMessage()

getValidityErrorMessage

public java.lang.String getValidityErrorMessage()

Answer the error message returned by the last failed validity check, if any.

Returns:

The most recent error message, or null.

See Also:

isValid()