javax.management
Interface Descriptor

All Superinterfaces:

Cloneable, Serializable

All Known Implementing Classes:

DescriptorSupport, ImmutableDescriptor

public interface Descriptor
extends Serializable, Cloneable

Additional metadata for a JMX element. A Descriptor is associated with a MBeanInfo, MBeanAttributeInfo, etc. It consists of a collection of fields. A field is a name and an associated value.

Field names are not case-sensitive. The names descriptorType, descriptortype, and DESCRIPTORTYPE are all equivalent. However, the case that was used when the field was first set is preserved in the result of the getFields() and getFieldNames() methods.

Not all field names and values are predefined. New fields can be defined and added by any program.

A descriptor can be mutable or immutable. An immutable descriptor, once created, never changes. The Descriptor methods that could modify the contents of the descriptor will throw an exception for an immutable descriptor. Immutable descriptors are usually instances of ImmutableDescriptor or a subclass. Mutable descriptors are usually instances of DescriptorSupport or a subclass.

Certain fields are used by the JMX implementation. This means either that the presence of the field may change the behavior of the JMX API or that the field may be set in descriptors returned by the JMX API. These fields appear in italics in the table below, and each one has a corresponding constant in the JMX class. For example, the field defaultValue is represented by the constant JMX.DEFAULT_VALUE_FIELD.

Certain other fields have conventional meanings described in the table below but they are not required to be understood or set by the JMX implementation.

Field names defined by the JMX specification in this and all future versions will never contain a period (.). Users can safely create their own fields by including a period in the name and be sure that these names will not collide with any future version of the JMX API. It is recommended to follow the Java package naming convention to avoid collisions between field names from different origins. For example, a field created by example.com might have the name com.example.interestLevel.

Note that the values in the defaultValue, legalValues, maxValue, and minValue fields should be consistent with the type returned by the getType() method for the associated MBeanAttributeInfo or MBeanParameterInfo. For MXBeans, this means that they should be of the mapped Java type, called opendata(J) in the MXBean type mapping rules.

Name	Type	Used in	Meaning
defaultValue	Object	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanParameterInfo	Default value for an attribute or parameter. See javax.management.openmbean.
deprecated	String	Any	An indication that this element of the information model is no longer recommended for use. A set of MBeans defined by an application is collectively called an information model. The convention is for the value of this field to contain a string that is the version of the model in which the element was first deprecated, followed by a space, followed by an explanation of the deprecation, for example "1.3 Replaced by the Capacity attribute".
descriptionResource BundleBaseName	String	Any	The base name for the ResourceBundle in which the key given in the descriptionResourceKey field can be found, for example "com.example.myapp.MBeanResources". The meaning of this field is defined by this specification but the field is not set or used by the JMX API itself.
descriptionResourceKey	String	Any	A resource key for the description of this element. In conjunction with the descriptionResourceBundleBaseName, this can be used to find a localized version of the description. The meaning of this field is defined by this specification but the field is not set or used by the JMX API itself.
enabled	String	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanNotificationInfo MBeanOperationInfo	The string "true" or "false" according as this item is enabled. When an attribute or operation is not enabled, it exists but cannot currently be accessed. A user interface might present it as a greyed-out item. For example, an attribute might only be meaningful after the start() method of an MBean has been called, and is otherwise disabled. Likewise, a notification might be disabled if it cannot currently be emitted but could be in other circumstances.
immutableInfo	String	MBeanInfo	The string "true" or "false" according as this MBean's MBeanInfo is immutable. When this field is true, the MBeanInfo for the given MBean is guaranteed not to change over the lifetime of the MBean. Hence, a client can read it once and cache the read value. When this field is false or absent, there is no such guarantee, although that does not mean that the MBeanInfo will necessarily change.
infoTimeout	String Long	MBeanInfo	The time in milli-seconds that the MBeanInfo can reasonably be expected to be unchanged. The value can be a Long or a decimal string. This provides a hint from a DynamicMBean or any MBean that does not define immutableInfo as true that the MBeanInfo is not likely to change within this period and therefore can be cached. When this field is missing or has the value zero, it is not recommended to cache the MBeanInfo unless it has the immutableInfo set to true.
interfaceClassName	String	MBeanInfo	The Java interface name for a Standard MBean or MXBean, as returned by Class.getName(). A Standard MBean or MXBean registered directly in the MBean Server or created using the StandardMBean class will have this field in its MBeanInfo Descriptor.
legalValues	Set<?>	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanParameterInfo	Legal values for an attribute or parameter. See javax.management.openmbean.
maxValue	Object	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanParameterInfo	Maximum legal value for an attribute or parameter. See javax.management.openmbean.
metricType	String	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanOperationInfo	The type of a metric, one of the strings "counter" or "gauge". A metric is a measurement exported by an MBean, usually an attribute but sometimes the result of an operation. A metric that is a counter has a value that never decreases except by being reset to a starting value. Counter metrics are almost always non-negative integers. An example might be the number of requests received. A metric that is a gauge has a numeric value that can increase or decrease. Examples might be the number of open connections or a cache hit rate or a temperature reading.
minValue	Object	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanParameterInfo	Minimum legal value for an attribute or parameter. See javax.management.openmbean.
mxbean	String	MBeanInfo	The string "true" or "false" according as this MBean is an MXBean. A Standard MBean or MXBean registered directly with the MBean Server or created using the StandardMBean class will have this field in its MBeanInfo Descriptor.
openType	OpenType	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanOperationInfo MBeanParameterInfo	The Open Type of this element. In the case of MBeanAttributeInfo and MBeanParameterInfo, this is the Open Type of the attribute or parameter. In the case of MBeanOperationInfo, it is the Open Type of the return value. This field is set in the Descriptor for all instances of OpenMBeanAttributeInfoSupport, OpenMBeanOperationInfoSupport, and OpenMBeanParameterInfoSupport. It is also set for attributes, operations, and parameters of MXBeans. This field can be set for an MBeanNotificationInfo, in which case it indicates the Open Type that the user data will have.
originalType	String	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanOperationInfo MBeanParameterInfo	The original Java type of this element as it appeared in the MXBean interface method that produced this MBeanAttributeInfo (etc). For example, a method public MemoryUsage getHeapMemoryUsage(); in an MXBean interface defines an attribute called HeapMemoryUsage of type CompositeData. The originalType field in the Descriptor for this attribute will have the value "java.lang.management.MemoryUsage". The format of this string is described in the section Type Names of the MXBean specification.
severity	String Integer	MBeanNotificationInfo	The severity of this notification. It can be 0 to mean unknown severity or a value from 1 to 6 representing decreasing levels of severity. It can be represented as a decimal string or an Integer.
since	String	Any	The version of the information model in which this element was introduced. A set of MBeans defined by an application is collectively called an information model. The application may also define versions of this model, and use the "since" field to record the version in which an element first appeared.
units	String	MBeanAttributeInfo MBeanParameterInfo MBeanOperationInfo	The units in which an attribute, parameter, or operation return value is measured, for example "bytes" or "seconds".

Some additional fields are defined by Model MBeans. See ModelMBeanInfo and related classes and the chapter "Model MBeans" of the JMX Specification.

Since:

1.5

Method Summary

Object	clone() Returns a descriptor which is equal to this descriptor.
boolean	equals(Object obj) Compares this descriptor to the given object.
String[]	getFieldNames() Returns all the field names in the descriptor.
String[]	getFields() Returns all of the fields contained in this descriptor as a string array.
Object	getFieldValue(String fieldName) Returns the value for a specific field name, or null if no value is present for that name.
Object[]	getFieldValues(String... fieldNames) Returns all the field values in the descriptor as an array of Objects.
int	hashCode() Returns the hash code value for this descriptor.
boolean	isValid() Returns true if all of the fields have legal values given their names.
void	removeField(String fieldName) Removes a field from the descriptor.
void	setField(String fieldName, Object fieldValue) Sets the value for a specific field name.
void	setFields(String[] fieldNames, Object[] fieldValues) Sets all fields in the field names array to the new value with the same index in the field values array.

Method Detail

getFieldValue

Object getFieldValue(String fieldName)
                     throws RuntimeOperationsException

Returns the value for a specific field name, or null if no value is present for that name.

Parameters:

fieldName - the field name.

Returns:

the corresponding value, or null if the field is not present.

Throws:

RuntimeOperationsException - if the field name is illegal.

setField

void setField(String fieldName,
              Object fieldValue)
              throws RuntimeOperationsException

Sets the value for a specific field name. This will modify an existing field or add a new field.

The field value will be validated before it is set. If it is not valid, then an exception will be thrown. The meaning of validity is dependent on the descriptor implementation.

Parameters:

fieldName - The field name to be set. Cannot be null or empty.

fieldValue - The field value to be set for the field name. Can be null if that is a valid value for the field.

Throws:

RuntimeOperationsException - if the field name or field value is illegal (wrapped exception is IllegalArgumentException); or if the descriptor is immutable (wrapped exception is UnsupportedOperationException).

getFields

String[] getFields()

Returns all of the fields contained in this descriptor as a string array.

Returns:

String array of fields in the format fieldName=fieldValue
If the value of a field is not a String, then the toString() method will be called on it and the returned value, enclosed in parentheses, used as the value for the field in the returned array. If the value of a field is null, then the value of the field in the returned array will be empty. If the descriptor is empty, you will get an empty array.

See Also:

setFields(java.lang.String[], java.lang.Object[])

getFieldNames

String[] getFieldNames()

Returns all the field names in the descriptor.

Returns:

String array of field names. If the descriptor is empty, you will get an empty array.

getFieldValues

Object[] getFieldValues(String... fieldNames)

Returns all the field values in the descriptor as an array of Objects. The returned values are in the same order as the fieldNames String array parameter.

Parameters:

fieldNames - String array of the names of the fields that the values should be returned for. If the array is empty then an empty array will be returned. If the array is null then all values will be returned, as if the parameter were the array returned by getFieldNames(). If a field name in the array does not exist, including the case where it is null or the empty string, then null is returned for the matching array element being returned.

Returns:

Object array of field values. If the list of fieldNames is empty, you will get an empty array.

removeField

void removeField(String fieldName)

Removes a field from the descriptor.

Parameters:

fieldName - String name of the field to be removed. If the field name is illegal or the field is not found, no exception is thrown.

Throws:

RuntimeOperationsException - if a field of the given name exists and the descriptor is immutable. The wrapped exception will be an UnsupportedOperationException.

setFields

void setFields(String[] fieldNames,
               Object[] fieldValues)
               throws RuntimeOperationsException

Sets all fields in the field names array to the new value with the same index in the field values array. Array sizes must match.

The field value will be validated before it is set. If it is not valid, then an exception will be thrown. If the arrays are empty, then no change will take effect.

Parameters:

fieldNames - String array of field names. The array and array elements cannot be null.

fieldValues - Object array of the corresponding field values. The array cannot be null. Elements of the array can be null.

Throws:

RuntimeOperationsException - if the change fails for any reason. Wrapped exception is IllegalArgumentException if fieldNames or fieldValues is null, or if the arrays are of different lengths, or if there is an illegal value in one of them. Wrapped exception is UnsupportedOperationException if the descriptor is immutable, and the call would change its contents.

See Also:

getFields()

clone

Object clone()
             throws RuntimeOperationsException

Returns a descriptor which is equal to this descriptor. Changes to the returned descriptor will have no effect on this descriptor, and vice versa. If this descriptor is immutable, it may fulfill this condition by returning itself.

Returns:

A descriptor which is equal to this descriptor.

Throws:

RuntimeOperationsException - for illegal value for field names or field values. If the descriptor construction fails for any reason, this exception will be thrown.

isValid

boolean isValid()
                throws RuntimeOperationsException

Returns true if all of the fields have legal values given their names.

Returns:

true if the values are legal.

Throws:

RuntimeOperationsException - If the validity checking fails for any reason, this exception will be thrown. The method returns false if the descriptor is not valid, but throws this exception if the attempt to determine validity fails.

equals

boolean equals(Object obj)

Compares this descriptor to the given object. The objects are equal if the given object is also a Descriptor, and if the two Descriptors have the same field names (possibly differing in case) and the same associated values. The respective values for a field in the two Descriptors are equal if the following conditions hold:

• If one value is null then the other must be too.
• If one value is a primitive array then the other must be a primitive array of the same type with the same elements.
• If one value is an object array then the other must be too and Arrays.deepEquals(Object[],Object[]) must return true.
• Otherwise Object.equals(Object) must return true.

Overrides:

equals in class Object

Parameters:

obj - the object to compare with.

Returns:

true if the objects are the same; false otherwise.

Since:

1.6

See Also:

Object.hashCode(), Hashtable

hashCode

int hashCode()

Returns the hash code value for this descriptor. The hash code is computed as the sum of the hash codes for each field in the descriptor. The hash code of a field with name n and value v is n.toLowerCase().hashCode() ^ h. Here h is the hash code of v, computed as follows:

• If v is null then h is 0.
• If v is a primitive array then h is computed using the appropriate overloading of java.util.Arrays.hashCode.
• If v is an object array then h is computed using Arrays.deepHashCode(Object[]).
• Otherwise h is v.hashCode().

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

Returns:

A hash code value for this object.

Since:

1.6

See Also:

Object.equals(java.lang.Object), Hashtable