hdf.object.h5

Class H5Link

Object

hdf.object.HObject

hdf.object.h5.H5Link

All Implemented Interfaces:

DataFormat, Serializable

public class H5Link
extends HObject

An H5Link object represents an existing HDF5 object in file.

H5Link object is an HDF5 object that is either a soft or an external link to an object in a file that does not exist. The type of the object is unknown. Once the object being linked to is created, and the type is known, then H5link object will change its type.

Version:

2.7.2 7/6/2010

Author:

Nidhi Gupta

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields inherited from class hdf.object.HObject

fileFormat, linkTargetObjName, oid, separator

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
H5Link(FileFormat theFile, String name, String path) Constructs an HDF5 link with specific name, path, and parent.
H5Link(FileFormat theFile, String theName, String thePath, long[] oid)

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	close(int id) Closes access to the object.
List	getMetadata() Retrieves the metadata such as attributes from file.
List	getMetadata(int... attrPropList)
boolean	hasAttribute() Check if the object has any attributes attached.
int	open() Opens an existing object such as a dataset or group for access.
void	removeMetadata(Object info) Deletes an existing metadata from this data object.
void	setName(String newName) Sets the name of the object.
void	updateMetadata(Object info) Updates an existing metadata from this data object.
void	writeMetadata(Object info) Writes a specific metadata (such as attribute) into file.

Methods inherited from class hdf.object.HObject

debug, equals, equalsOID, getFID, getFile, getFileFormat, getFullName, getLinkTargetObjName, getName, getOID, getPath, setLinkTargetObjName, setPath, toString

Methods inherited from class Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

H5Link

public H5Link(FileFormat theFile,
              String name,
              String path)

Constructs an HDF5 link with specific name, path, and parent.

Parameters:

theFile - the file which containing the link.

name - the name of this link, e.g. "link1".

path - the full path of this link, e.g. "/groups/".

H5Link

public H5Link(FileFormat theFile,
              String theName,
              String thePath,
              long[] oid)

Method Detail

close

public void close(int id)

Description copied from class: HObject

Closes access to the object.

Sub-classes must implement this interface because different data objects have their own ways of how the data resources are closed.

For example, H5Group.close() calls the hdf.hdf5lib.H5.H5Gclose() method and closes the group resource specified by the group id.

Specified by:

close in class HObject

Parameters:

id - The object identifier.

open

public int open()

Description copied from class: HObject

Opens an existing object such as a dataset or group for access. The return value is an object identifier obtained by implementing classes such as H5.H5Dopen(). This function is needed to allow other objects to be able to access the object. For instance, H5File class uses the open() function to obtain object identifier for copyAttributes(int src_id, int dst_id) and other purposes. The open() function should be used in pair with close(int) function.

Specified by:

open in class HObject

Returns:

the object identifier if successful; otherwise returns a negative value.

See Also:

HObject.close(int)

getMetadata

public List getMetadata()
                 throws Exception

Description copied from interface: DataFormat

Retrieves the metadata such as attributes from file.

Metadata such as attributes are stored in a List.

Returns:

the list of metadata objects.

Throws:

Exception - if the metadata can not be retrieved

hasAttribute

public boolean hasAttribute()

Description copied from interface: DataFormat

Check if the object has any attributes attached.

Returns:

true if it has any attribute(s), false otherwise.

removeMetadata

public void removeMetadata(Object info)
                    throws Exception

Description copied from interface: DataFormat

Deletes an existing metadata from this data object.

Parameters:

info - the metadata to delete.

Throws:

Exception - if the metadata can not be removed

writeMetadata

public void writeMetadata(Object info)
                   throws Exception

Description copied from interface: DataFormat

Writes a specific metadata (such as attribute) into file. If an HDF(4&5) attribute exists in file, the method updates its value. If the attribute does not exists in file, it creates the attribute in file and attaches it to the object. It will fail to write a new attribute to the object where an attribute with the same name already exists. To update the value of an existing attribute in file, one needs to get the instance of the attribute by getMetadata(), change its values, and use writeMetadata() to write the value.

Parameters:

info - the metadata to write.

Throws:

Exception - if the metadata can not be written

updateMetadata

public void updateMetadata(Object info)
                    throws Exception

Description copied from interface: DataFormat

Updates an existing metadata from this data object.

Parameters:

info - the metadata to update.

Throws:

Exception - if the metadata can not be updated

getMetadata

public List getMetadata(int... attrPropList)
                 throws Exception

Throws:

Exception

setName

public void setName(String newName)
             throws Exception

Description copied from class: HObject

Sets the name of the object. setName (String newName) changes the name of the object in the file.

Overrides:

setName in class HObject

Parameters:

newName - The new name of the object.

Throws:

Exception - if name is root or contains separator