oracle.hsgbu.hdr.hl7.rim.types

Interface ANY

All Superinterfaces:

Serializable

All Known Subinterfaces:

AD, ADXP, BAG<T>, BIN, BL, BN, CD, CE, CO, CR, CS, CV, ED, EIVL, EN, ENXP, GTS, II, INT, IVL<T>, LIST<T>, MO, OID, ON, PIVL, PN, PQ, PQR, QTY, REAL, RTO<N,D>, SC, SET<T>, ST, TEL, TN, TS, TYPE, UID, URL

public interface ANY
extends Serializable

ANY is the root of the data type class hierachy. ANY defines the basic properties of every data value. This is an abstract type, meaning that no value can be just a data value without belonging to any concrete type. Every concrete type is a specialization of this general abstract DataValue type.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
TYPE	dataType() Represents the fact that every data value implicitly carries information about its own data type.
BL	equal(ANY x) Equality is a reflexive, symmetric, and transative relation between any two data values.
BN	isNull() Indicates that a value is an exceptional value, or a NULL-value.
BN	nonNull() Indicates that a value is a non-exceptional value of the data type.
BL	notApplicable() A predicate indicating that this exceptional value is of ANY.nullFlavor not-applicable (NA), i.e., that a proper value is not meaningful in the given context.
CS	nullFlavor() If a value is an exceptional value (NULL-value), this specifies in what way and why proper information is missing.
BL	other() A predicate indicating that this exceptional value is of nullFlavor other (OTH), i.e., that the required value domain does not contain the appropriate value.
BL	unknown() A predicate indicating that this exceptional value is of nullFlavor unknown (UNK).

Method Detail

dataType

TYPE dataType()

Represents the fact that every data value implicitly carries information about its own data type. Thus, given a data value one can inquire about its data type.

nonNull

BN nonNull()

Indicates that a value is a non-exceptional value of the data type. When a property, RIM attribute, or message field is called mandatory this means that any non-NULL value of the type to which the property belongs has a non-NULL value for that property, in other words, a field may not be NULL, providing that its container (object, segment, etc.) is to have a non-NULL value.

nullFlavor

CS nullFlavor()

If a value is an exceptional value (NULL-value), this specifies in what way and why proper information is missing. The null flavors are a general domain extension of all normal data types. Note the distinction between value domain of any data type and the vocabulary domain of coded data types. A vocabulary domain is a value domain for coded values, but not all value domains are vocabulary domains. The null flavor "other" is used whenever the actual value is not in the required value domain, this may be, for example, when the value exceeds some constraints that are defined too restrictive (e.g., age less than 100 years.) NOTE: NULL-flavors are applicable to any property of a data value or a higher-level object attribute. Where the difference of null flavors is not significant, ITS are not required to represent them. If nothing else is noted in this specification, ITS need not represent general NULL-flavors for data-value properties. Some of these null flavors are associated with named properties that can be used as simple predicates for all data values. This is done to simplify the formulation of invariants in the remainder of this specification. Remember the difference between semantic properties and representational "components" of data values. An ITS must only represent those components that are needed to infer the semantic properties. The null-flavor predicates ANY.nonNull, ANY.isNull, ANY.notApplicable, ANY.unknown, and ANY.other can all be inferred from the property.

isNull

BN isNull()

Indicates that a value is an exceptional value, or a NULL-value. A null value means that the information does not exist, is not available or cannot be expressed in the data type's normal value set. Every data element has either a proper value or it is considered NULL. If (and only if) it is NULL, the nullFlavor property provides more detail as to in what way or why no proper value is supplied.

See Also:

nullFlavor()

notApplicable

BL notApplicable()

A predicate indicating that this exceptional value is of ANY.nullFlavor not-applicable (NA), i.e., that a proper value is not meaningful in the given context.

unknown

BL unknown()

A predicate indicating that this exceptional value is of nullFlavor unknown (UNK).

other

BL other()

A predicate indicating that this exceptional value is of nullFlavor other (OTH), i.e., that the required value domain does not contain the appropriate value.

equal

BL equal(ANY x)

Equality is a reflexive, symmetric, and transative relation between any two data values. Only proper values can be qual, null values are never equal (even if they have the same null flavor).