net.larsan.norna
Interface Context

All Superinterfaces:
Namespace
All Known Subinterfaces:
Delegator

public interface Context
extends Namespace

A context is a named subpart of a Norna Namespace. A context is equivalent to a node in a hierarcic model which can contain other nodes as well as a set of leafs. A context is anchored within its namespace on a non-mutable address which is its Namespace ID.

A discussion on Norna namespace addressing and IDs can be found in the Namespace documentation but a context differs from a namespace on the following points:

The context may use the ContextPermission to check access to its methods. This permission checks that the caller has permission to access a particular address in the context subspace. Normally services only have full access to the context they are provided with including its subspace. Thus a service whose context is named
       /services/mailbox/
 
will usually be free to use any subspace such as
       /services/mailbox/username/INBOX
 
but will probaly not be permitted access to
       /services/jsp/parser/
 
Since a context is bound to a specific namespace it is possible to resolve names more freely than a namespace would usually permit. An URL can be relative to the context or the namespace root or be given absolute. For example, for a context named
       norna://localhost/system/log/
 
The three following URLs all point to the same object:
       filter/simple
       /system/log/filter/simple
       norna://localhost/system/log/filter/simple
 

Version:
Alpha-0.2 / 2002-10-06 21:37
Author:
Lars J. Nilsson
See Also:
ContextPermission

Method Summary
 java.lang.String getNamespaceID()
          Get a context Namespace ID.
 
Methods inherited from interface net.larsan.norna.Namespace
bind, lookup, unbind
 

Method Detail

getNamespaceID

public java.lang.String getNamespaceID()
Get a context Namespace ID. This is the Namespace URL where the context is mounted. All method invocations on this context may be resolved relative to this name or the root of the parent namespace.

Returns:
The context name, e.g. its URL mount point