edu.udo.cs.miningmart.m4
Interface Feature

All Superinterfaces:

GraphicalM4Object, M4Data, M4Object, ParameterObject

All Known Subinterfaces:

BaseAttribute, MultiColumnFeature

All Known Implementing Classes:

BaseAttribute, Feature, MultiColumnFeature

public interface Feature

extends ParameterObject

MiningMart Feature (subclasses BaseAttribute and MultiColumnFeature)

Version:

$Id: Feature.java,v 1.3 2006/04/11 14:10:12 euler Exp $

Author:

Daniel Hakenjos, Timm Euler

Method Summary

Feature	copy(Concept c) Create a copy of this Feature and attach it to the given Concept.
boolean	correspondsTo(Feature f) This method indicates if an input feature corresponds to an output feature, or if two input features correspond, e.g.
Concept	getConcept()
Parameter	getParameterWhereThisIsOutputFeature() Return the Parameter object that represents this Feature as an output parameter (of a certain step).
boolean	isDeselected()
boolean	isRelationallyValid() This method returns information about the validity of the object.
void	removeLinkToColumns() Removes the link between this feature and all of its columns.
void	setConcept(Concept c) Set the concept this BaseAttribute belongs to.

Methods inherited from interface edu.udo.cs.miningmart.m4.ParameterObject

addParameterReference, getParameterReferences, removeParameterReference

Methods inherited from interface edu.udo.cs.miningmart.m4.GraphicalM4Object

getPoint, setPoint

Methods inherited from interface edu.udo.cs.miningmart.m4.M4Data

deleteSoon, getDocumentation, getValidName, isDirty, isWaitingForDelete, setDocumentation

Methods inherited from interface edu.udo.cs.miningmart.m4.M4Object

doPrint, doPrint, equals, executeBusinessSingleValueSqlRead, executeBusinessSingleValueSqlReadL, executeBusinessSqlRead, executeBusinessSqlWrite, executeM4SingleValueSqlRead, executeM4SingleValueSqlReadL, executeM4SqlRead, executeM4SqlWrite, getCasePrintObject, getId, getM4Db, getM4ObjectFromCache, getName, getNextM4SequenceValue, isNew, load, print, putM4ObjectToCache, replaceSpacesInName, setId, setName

Method Detail

correspondsTo

public boolean correspondsTo(Feature f)

This method indicates if an input feature corresponds to an output feature, or if two input features correspond, e.g. for UNION operations. Additionally to comparing names the types (BaseAttribute or MultiColumnFeature) have to be equal.

Parameters:

f - the feature to compare this one to

Returns:

iff the features are corresponding.

getConcept

public Concept getConcept()
                   throws M4Exception

Throws:

M4Exception

setConcept

public void setConcept(Concept c)
                throws M4Exception

Set the concept this BaseAttribute belongs to.

Parameters:

c - the Concept

Throws:

M4Exception

copy

public Feature copy(Concept c)
             throws M4Exception

Create a copy of this Feature and attach it to the given Concept. The relational M4 level is not copied.

Returns:

a copy of this Feature

Throws:

M4CompilerError

M4Exception

isDeselected

public boolean isDeselected()
                     throws M4CompilerError

Returns:

true iff this Feature has been "deselected" by a FeatureSelection operator or has not been connected by the user.

Throws:

M4CompilerError

getParameterWhereThisIsOutputFeature

public Parameter getParameterWhereThisIsOutputFeature()
                                               throws M4Exception

Return the Parameter object that represents this Feature as an output parameter (of a certain step).

Returns:

a Parameter object

Throws:

M4Exception

isRelationallyValid

public boolean isRelationallyValid()
                            throws M4Exception

This method returns information about the validity of the object. The returned value denotes if the object is valid or not.

Throws:

M4Exception

removeLinkToColumns

public void removeLinkToColumns()
                         throws M4Exception

Removes the link between this feature and all of its columns. This is needed to disconnect the conceptual and relational level.

Throws:

M4Exception