net.sf.javaprinciples.resource
Interface ResourceIdentifier

public interface ResourceIdentifier

Interface encapsulating the Identifier for a Resource. Identifiers are typically richer than a plain String, and are considered immutable.

Author:

rvl

Method Summary

String	getIdentifier() Gets the Identifier component of the ResourceIdentifier.
List<String>	getPathElements() Get the path elements from the ResourceIdentifier.
Map<String,String>	getQueryParameters() Gets the query parameters associated with the ResourceIdentifier.

Method Detail

getPathElements

List<String> getPathElements()

Get the path elements from the ResourceIdentifier. In the case of a URL, these are the elements separated by "/", with the additional restriction that the base URL has been removed first. That is, given a URL of http://example.com/resources/example/animals/dogs, and a base URL of http://example.com/resources/example, the path would contain elements "animals" and "dogs" in that order.

Returns:

A list of the path elements of the ResourceIdentifier that do not include the base URL elements, and will never be null.

getQueryParameters

Map<String,String> getQueryParameters()

Gets the query parameters associated with the ResourceIdentifier. Query parameters are primarily used for passing parameters to algorithmic resources. For example, http://example.com/resources/example/animals/dogs?size=medium&fur=short could be interpreted as a request for a list of all medium-sized dogs with short fur, made of an algorithmic resource. The query parameters are size = medium and fur = short.

Returns:

The query parameters if any. The returned Map is never null.

getIdentifier

String getIdentifier()

Gets the Identifier component of the ResourceIdentifier. This is not to be confused with the ResourceIdentifier itself, which is the complete URL. The Identifier in this case is by convention the last path element in the ResourceIdentifier, and is an identifier of some "thing" as understood by the system.

Returns:

The Identifier.