ca.uhn.hl7v2.model

Class ExtraComponents

java.lang.Object

ca.uhn.hl7v2.model.ExtraComponents

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

public class ExtraComponents
extends Object
implements Serializable

A set of "extra" components (sub-components) that are not a standard part of a field (component) but have been added at runtime. The purpose is to allow processing of locally-defined extensions to datatypes without the need for a custom message definition. Extra components are not treated uniformly with standard components (e.g. they are not accessible through methods like Primitive.getValue() and Composite.getComponent()). To do so would blur the distinction between primitive and composite types (i.e. leaf and non-leaf nodes), which seems nice and polymorphic for a moment but actually isn't helpful. Furthermore, the auto-generated classes do not define accessors to extra components, because they are meant to encourage and enforce use of the standard message structure -- stepping outside the standard structure must be deliberate. Note that a uniformity of access to standard and extra components is provided by Terser.

Author:

Bryan Tripp

See Also:

Serialized Form

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
ExtraComponents(Message message)

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
Varies	getComponent(int comp) Returns the component at the given location, creating it and all preceeding components if necessary.
boolean	isEmpty() Returns true if extra components are empty
int	numComponents() Returns the number of existing extra components
String	toString()

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Constructor Detail

ExtraComponents

public ExtraComponents(Message message)

Method Detail

numComponents

public int numComponents()

Returns the number of existing extra components

Returns:

number of existing extra components

isEmpty

public boolean isEmpty()
                throws HL7Exception

Returns true if extra components are empty

Returns:

true if extra components are empty, false otherwise

Throws:

HL7Exception

getComponent

public Varies getComponent(int comp)

Returns the component at the given location, creating it and all preceeding components if necessary.

Parameters:

comp - the extra component number starting at 0 (i.e. 0 is the first extra component)

Returns:

component at the given index

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class Object