NAME
Bio::Ontology::OntologyI - Interface for an ontology implementation
SYNOPSIS
# see method documentation
DESCRIPTION
This describes the minimal interface an ontology implementation must provide. In essence, it represents a namespace with description on top of the query interface OntologyEngineI.
This interface inherits from Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI.
FEEDBACK
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rather than to the module maintainer directly. Many experienced and reponsive experts will be able look at the problem and quickly address it. Please include a thorough description of the problem with code and data examples if at all possible.
Reporting Bugs
Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track of the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via email or the web:
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AUTHOR - Hilmar Lapp
Email hlapp at gmx.net
APPENDIX
The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _
Methods defined in this interface.
name
Title : nameUsage : $obj->name($newval)Function: Get/set the name of this ontology.Example :Returns : value of name (a scalar)Args :
authority
Title : authorityUsage : $auth = $obj->authority()Function: Get/set the authority for this ontology, for instance theDNS base for the organization granting the name of theontology and identifiers for the terms.This attribute is optional and should not generallyexpected by applications to have been set. It is here tofollow the rules for namespaces, which ontologies serve asfor terms.Example :Returns : value of authority (a scalar)Args :
identifier
Title : identifierUsage : $id = $obj->identifier()Function: Get an identifier for this ontology.This is primarily intended for look-up purposes. Clientsshould not expect the value to be modifiable, and it maynot be allowed to set its value from outside. Also, theidentifier's uniqueness may only hold within the scope of aparticular application's run time, i.e., it may be a memorylocation.Example :Returns : value of identifier (a scalar)Args :
definition
Title : definitionUsage : $def = $obj->definition()Function: Get a descriptive definition for this ontology.Example :Returns : value of definition (a scalar)Args :
close
Title : closeUsage :Function: Release any resources this ontology may occupy. In orderto efficiently release used memory or file handles, youshould call this method once you are finished with anontology.Example :Returns : TRUE on success and FALSE otherwiseArgs : none
Methods inherited from Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI
Their documentations are copied here for completeness. In most use cases, you will want to access the query methods of an ontology, not just the name and description ...
add_term
Title : add_termUsage : add_term(TermI term): TermIFunction: Adds TermI object to the ontology engine term store.For ease of use, if the ontology property of the termobject was not set, an implementation is encouraged to setit to itself upon adding the term.Example : $oe->add_term($term)Returns : its argument.Args : object of class TermI.
add_relationship
Title : add_relationshipUsage : add_relationship(RelationshipI relationship): RelationshipIFunction: Adds a relationship object to the ontology engine.Example :Returns : Its argument.Args : A RelationshipI object.
get_relationships
Title : get_relationshipsUsage : get_relationships(TermI term): RelationshipIFunction: Retrieves all relationship objects from this ontology engine,or all relationships of a term if a term is supplied.Example :Returns : Array of Bio::Ontology::RelationshipI objectsArgs : None, or a Bio::Ontology::TermI compliant object for whichto retrieve the relationships.
get_predicate_terms
Title : get_predicate_termsUsage : get_predicate_terms(): TermI[]Function:Example :Returns :Args :
get_child_terms
Title : get_child_termsUsage : get_child_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermIFunction: Retrieves all child terms of a given term, that satisfy arelationship among those that are specified in the secondargument or undef otherwise. get_child_terms is a specialcase of get_descendant_terms, limiting the search to thedirect descendants.Example :Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the listof relationship type terms.
get_descendant_terms
Title : get_descendant_termsUsage : get_descendant_terms(TermI term, TermI rel_types): TermIFunction: Retrieves all descendant terms of a given term, thatsatisfy a relationship among those that are specified inthe second argument or undef otherwise.Example :Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the listof relationship type terms.
get_parent_terms
Title : get_parent_termsUsage : get_parent_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermIFunction: Retrieves all parent terms of a given term, that satisfy arelationship among those that are specified in the secondargument or undef otherwise. get_parent_terms is a specialcase of get_ancestor_terms, limiting the search to thedirect ancestors.Example :Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the listof relationship type terms.
get_ancestor_terms
Title : get_ancestor_termsUsage : get_ancestor_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermIFunction: Retrieves all ancestor terms of a given term, that satisfya relationship among those that are specified in the secondargument or undef otherwise.Example :Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the listof relationship type terms.
get_leaf_terms
Title : get_leaf_termsUsage : get_leaf_terms(): TermIFunction: Retrieves all leaf terms from the ontology. Leaf term is aterm w/o descendants.Example : @leaf_terms = $obj->get_leaf_terms()Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args :
get_root_terms()
Title : get_root_termsUsage : get_root_terms(): TermIFunction: Retrieves all root terms from the ontology. Root term is aterm w/o descendants.Example : @root_terms = $obj->get_root_terms()Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args :
get_all_terms
Title : get_all_termsUsage : get_all_terms: TermIFunction: Retrieves all terms from the ontology.We do not mandate an order here in which the terms arereturned. In fact, the default implementation will returnthem in unpredictable order.Example : @terms = $obj->get_all_terms()Returns : Array of TermI objects.Args :
find_terms
Title : find_termsUsage : ($term) = $oe->find_terms(-identifier => "SO:0000263");Function: Find term instances matching queries for their attributes.An implementation may not support querying for arbitraryattributes, but can generally be expected to accept-identifier and -name as queries. If both are provided,they are implicitly intersected.Example :Returns : an array of zero or more Bio::Ontology::TermI objectsArgs : Named parameters. The following parameters should be recognizedby any implementation:-identifier query by the given identifier-name query by the given name
Factory for relationships and terms
relationship_factory
Title : relationship_factoryUsage : $fact = $obj->relationship_factory()Function: Get (and set, if the implementation supports it) the objectfactory to be used when relationship objects are created bythe implementation on-the-fly.Example :Returns : value of relationship_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryIcompliant object)Args :
term_factory
Title : term_factoryUsage : $fact = $obj->term_factory()Function: Get (and set, if the implementation supports it) the objectfactory to be used when term objects are created bythe implementation on-the-fly.Example :Returns : value of term_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryIcompliant object)Args :