Package org.osid.resource

package org.osid.resource

The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid.resource service.

The Resource OSID defines a service to access and manage a directory of objects.

Resources

Resources may represent people, places or a set or arbitrary entities that are used throughout the OSIDs as references to indirect objects. In core OSID, Resources have no other meaning other than to provide an identifier and a relation to an authentication principal. Resource Types may define extra data to define an employee, organizational unit or an inventory item. Resources are referenced throughout the OSIDs to and the abstraction level of this service provides a consistent interface with which to access and manage object references not directly pertinent to the service in play. For example, a Repository OSID may reference Resources as authors or a Course OSID may reference Resources for students and instructors. Each of these OSIDs may orchestrate a Resource OSID to provide management of the set of referenced resources.

A Resource genus Type may be used to provide a label the kind of resource. This service offers the flexibility that the producer of a film may be a person, a production company, or a fire hydrant. While genus Types may be used to constrain the kinds of Resources that may be related to various OsidObjects if necessary, OSID Consumers are expected to simply use the Resource as a reference. If an OSID Consumer wishes to provide a mechanism for updating a Resource referenced, the OSID Consumer should use an orchestrated Resource OSID.

Agents

A Resource also provides the mapping between an authentication Agent and the entity on whose behalf the agent is acting. An Agent can only map to a single Resource while a Resource can have multiple Agents . An agent that represents the unix login of "vijay" on server due.mit.edu can map to a Resource representing Vijay Kumar, who may also have a campus agent of "vkumar@mit.edu."

Group

When a Resource is referenced in another OSID, it is a singular entity. To provide groupings of multiple people or things, a Resource can also be defined as a hierarchical group of other resources. Whether a resource is a single entity or a group is an attribute of the Resource itself. If a Resource is a group, then its membership can be queried or managed in one of the group sessions. This overloading of the object definition serves to keep the nature of the resource separate from the other OSIDs such that a message to a "group", for example, is referenced as a single resource receipient. Other OSIDs are blind to whether or not a referenced Resource is a group or a singular entity..

Resource Relationships

For kicks, Resources may have arbitrrary relationships to other Resources using the ResourceRelationship interface. Resource relationships may also be used to provide a place to describe in more detail, or hang data, on a member to group relationship.

Bin Cataloging

Resources may be mapped into hierarchial Bins for the purpose of cataloging or federation.

Sub Packages

The Resource OSID includes a Resource Demographic OSID for managing dynamically generated populations of Resources and a Resource Batch OSID for managing Resources in bulk.

Copyright © 2006-2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Copyright © 2010 Ingenescus. All Rights Reserved.

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Related Packages

Package	Description
org.osid	The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid service.
org.osid.resource.batch	The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid.resource.batch service.
org.osid.resource.demographic	The Open Service Interface Definitions for the org.osid.resource.demographic service.
org.osid.resource.records

Interfaces

Class	Description
Bin	An inventory defines a collection of resources.
BinAdminSession	This session creates, updates, and deletes Bins .
BinForm	This is the form for creating and updating bins.
BinHierarchyDesignSession	This session defines methods for managing a hierarchy of Bin objects.
BinHierarchySession	This session defines methods for traversing a hierarchy of Bin objects.
BinList	Like all OsidLists , BinList provides a means for accessing Bin elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
BinLookupSession	This session provides methods for retrieving Bin objects.
BinNode	This interface is a container for a partial hierarchy retrieval.
BinNodeList	Like all OsidLists , BinNodeList provides a means for accessing BinNode elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
BinNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive notifications on adds/changes to Bin objects.
BinQuery	This is the query for searching bins.
BinQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining bin queries.
BinQuerySession	This session provides methods for searching among Bin objects.
BinReceiver	The bin receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new, updated or deleted Bin objects.
BinSearch	The interface for governing bin searches.
BinSearchOrder	An interface for specifying the ordering of search results.
BinSearchResults	This interface provides a means to capture results of a search.
BinSearchSession	This session provides methods for searching among Bin objects.
GroupAssignmentSession	This session provides methods to re-assign Resources to group Resources .
GroupHierarchySession	This session provides a hierarchical view of resource groups.
GroupNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive notifications on adds/changes to Resource members.
GroupReceiver	The resource group receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new or deleted members.
GroupSession	This session provides methods to retrieve Resource to Group mappings.
MembershipSession	This session provides methods to query if a Resource is a member of another Resource .
Resource	A Resource represents an arbitrary entity.
ResourceAdminSession	This session creates, updates, and deletes Resources .
ResourceAgentAssignmentSession	This session provides methods to re-assign Resource to Agents .
ResourceAgentSession	This session provides methods to retrieve Resource to Agent mappings.
ResourceBinAssignmentSession	This session provides methods to re-assign Resources to Bins .
ResourceBinSession	This session provides methods to retrieve Resource to Bin mappings.
ResourceForm	This is the form for creating and updating Resources .
ResourceList	Like all OsidLists , ResourceList provides a means for accessing Resource elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
ResourceLookupSession	This session defines methods for retrieving resources.
ResourceManager	The resource manager provides access to resource lookup and creation sessions and provides interoperability tests for various aspects of this service.
ResourceNode	This interface is a container for a partial hierarchy retrieval.
ResourceNodeList	Like all OsidLists , ResourceNodeList provides a means for accessing ResourceNode elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
ResourceNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive notifications on adds/changes to Resource objects in this Bin .
ResourceProfile	The resource profile describes interoperability among resource services.
ResourceProxyManager	The resource manager provides access to resource lookup and creation session and provides interoperability tests for various aspects of this service.
ResourceQuery	This is the query for searching resources.
ResourceQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining resource queries.
ResourceQuerySession	This session provides methods for searching among Resource objects.
ResourceReceiver	The resource receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new, updated or deleted Resource objects.
ResourceRelationship	ResourceRelationship relates two resources.
ResourceRelationshipAdminSession	This session creates, updates, and deletes ResourceRelationships .
ResourceRelationshipBinAssignmentSession	This session provides methods to re-assign ResourceRelationships to Bins .
ResourceRelationshipBinSession	This session provides methods to retrieve ResourceRelationship to Bin mappings.
ResourceRelationshipForm	This is the form for creating and updating ResourceRelationships .
ResourceRelationshipList	Like all OsidLists , ResourceRelationshipList provides a means for accessing ResourceRelationship elements sequentially either one at a time or many at a time.
ResourceRelationshipLookupSession	This session provides methods for examining resource relationships.
ResourceRelationshipNotificationSession	This session defines methods to receive asynchronous notifications on adds/changes to resource relationships.
ResourceRelationshipQuery	This is the query for searching resource relationships.
ResourceRelationshipQueryInspector	This is the query inspector for examining resource relationship queries.
ResourceRelationshipQuerySession	This session provides methods for searching ResourceRelationship objects.
ResourceRelationshipReceiver	The resource relationship receiver is the consumer supplied interface for receiving notifications pertaining to new, updated or deleted ResourceRelationships .
ResourceRelationshipSearch	ResourceRelationshipSearch defines the interface for specifying relationship search options.
ResourceRelationshipSearchOrder	An interface for specifying the ordering of search results.
ResourceRelationshipSearchResults	This interface provides a means to capture results of a search.
ResourceRelationshipSearchSession	This session provides methods for searching ResourceRelationship objects.
ResourceRelationshipSmartBinSession	This session manages queries and sequencing to create "smart" dynamic catalogs.
ResourceSearch	The search interface for governing resource searches.
ResourceSearchOrder	An interface for specifying the ordering of search results.
ResourceSearchResults	This interface provides a means to capture results of a search.
ResourceSearchSession	This session provides methods for searching among Resource objects.
ResourceSmartBinSession	This session manages queries and sequencing to create "smart" dynamic catalogs.