001/**
002 * Copyright 2005-2016 The Kuali Foundation
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007 *
008 * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php
009 *
010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014 * limitations under the License.
015 */
016package org.kuali.rice.krms.api.repository.term;
017
018import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Identifiable;
019import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Versioned;
020
021import java.util.List;
022
023/**
024 * <p>The contract for a {@link TermDefinition} which defines a term.  Conceptually,
025 * a term describes a piece of data used in a proposition, e.g. the total dollar amount of a grant.  It is a place
026 * holder, not a specific fact value as the amount will vary between grants.
027 * </p>
028 *
029 * <p> In KRMS' model, a term contains a term specification which specifies some import details about the term.
030 * </p>
031 *
032 * <p>A term may have parameters associated with it.  The parameters are intended to be used during term resolution to
033 * reify the fact value for the term.  Parameters allow multiple terms to exist for a single specification.
034 * </p>
035 *
036 * @see TermDefinition
037 * @see org.kuali.rice.krms.api.engine.Term
038 * @see TermSpecificationDefinitionContract
039 * @author Kuali Rice Team (rice.collab@kuali.org)
040 */
041public interface TermDefinitionContract extends Identifiable, Versioned {
042        
043        /**
044     * Get the associated {@link TermSpecificationDefinitionContract} which specifies some important details about
045     * the term.  Will not be null.
046     *
047         * @return the term specification
048         */
049        TermSpecificationDefinitionContract getSpecification();
050
051    /**
052     * Get the description for this {@link TermDefinitionContract}.  May be null.
053     *
054     * @return the description
055     */
056    String getDescription();
057        
058        /**
059         * Get any parameters specified on this {@link TermDefinitionContract}.  May be empty, but never null.
060     *
061     * @return the term's parameters
062     */
063        List<? extends TermParameterDefinitionContract> getParameters();
064        
065}