Tài liệu Creating Applications with Mozilla-Chapter 10. RDF, RDF Tools, and the Content Model-P3 docx

Chapter 10. RDF, RDF Tools, and the Content Model-P3 10.3.1. What Is an RDF Component? An RDF component may implement any number of the general RDF interfaces described here, in addition to special interfaces for accessing and controlling the data the datasource represents. For example, @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=internetsearch is an RDF component used to control Mozilla's internet searching facility. In Mozilla, a component can act as a library of code specific to a given set of data or domain. The internetsearch component is instantiated and used to recall text entered in a previous search: var searchDS = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?n ame=internetsearch"] .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIInternetSearch Service); searchDS.RememberLastSearchText(escapedSearchStr); This RDF component implements an interface called nsIInternetSearchService, which is selected from the component and used to call the RememberLastSearchText method. Although you can also use the getService method to get one of a component's RDF interfaces (e.g., by using getService(Components.interfaces.nsIRDFDataSource)), doing so is seldom necessary in practice. RDF components are tailored to the datasources they represent and usually provide all the access you need to access that data directly. Example 10-6 lists RDF components in Mozilla. Example 10-6. RDF-specific components built into Mozilla @mozilla.org/rdf/container;1 @mozilla.org/rdf/content-sink;1 @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=addresscard @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=addressdirectory @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=bookmarks @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=charset-menu @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=composite- datasource @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=files @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=history @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=httpindex @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=in-memory- datasource @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=internetsearch @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=ispdefaults @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=local-store @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=localsearch @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=mailnewsfolders @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=msgaccountmanage r @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=msgfilters @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=msgnotifications @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=smtp @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=subscribe @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=window-mediator @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=xml-datasource @mozilla.org/rdf/delegate- factory;1?key=filter&scheme=imap @mozilla.org/rdf/delegate- factory;1?key=filter&scheme=mailbox @mozilla.org/rdf/delegate- factory;1?key=filter&scheme=news @mozilla.org/rdf/delegate- factory;1?key=smtpserver&scheme=smtp @mozilla.org/rdf/rdf-service;1 @mozilla.org/rdf/resource-factory;1 @mozilla.org/rdf/resource- factory;1?name=abdirectory @mozilla.org/rdf/resource-factory;1?name=abmdbcard @mozilla.org/rdf/resource- factory;1?name=abmdbdirectory @mozilla.org/rdf/resource-factory;1?name=imap @mozilla.org/rdf/resource-factory;1?name=mailbox @mozilla.org/rdf/resource-factory;1?name=news @mozilla.org/rdf/xml-parser;1 @mozilla.org/rdf/xml-serializer;1 From this list, components used often in the Mozilla source code include bookmarks, history, mail and news folders, and address books. Special URIs Mozilla's built-in datasource components have special URIs for access. Here is the format used to determine the URI from the component reference: Component: @mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=SomeName Datasource URI: rdf:SomeName The URI, such as rdf:someName, is also accessible as a datasource property: foo-ds.URI 10.3.2. What Are RDF Interfaces? RDF interfaces are interfaces in Mozilla designed to manipulate RDF structures and data. They typically deal with RDF generally, rather than specific sets of data (as in the case of components). A common use for an RDF interface in JavaScript, shown in Example 10-7 , is to use nsIRDFService to retrieve or assert the root node of an RDF datasource. Example 10-7. Creating a root node // get the nsIRDFService interface and assign it to RDF RDF = Components.classes[`@mozilla.org/rdf/rdf- service;1']. getService(Components.interfaces.nsIRDFService); // call the GetResource method from the interface rootResource = RDF.GetResource('urn:root'); Like all Mozilla interfaces, RDF interfaces (shown in Table 10-3 ) are defined in IDL and can be accessed through XPCOM. The examples in this section use JavaScript and XPConnect to access the components for simplicity, but you can also use these interfaces with C++, as they are often in the actual Mozilla source code. Most interfaces deal with datasources, which drive the use of RDF in Mozilla. Table 10-3. Mozilla's built-in RDF interfaces RDF interface Description nsIRDFService Mostly used for retrieving datasources, resources, and literals. It also registers and unregisters datasources and resources. nsIRDFCompositeDataSource Allows the addition and removal of a datasource from a composite RDF interface Description datasource (which may be empty). nsIRDFDataSource, nsIRDFPurgeableDataSource, nsIRDFRemoteDataSource Mostly used for adding, removing, and changing triples in a datasource. It provides the means to change the graph. nsIRDFNode, nsIRDFResource, nsIRDFLiteral Provide an equality function. Values for resources and literals can be retrieved. Objects of these types are retrieved from nsIRDFService. nsIRDFContainer Provides vector-like access to an RDF container's elements. nsIRDFContainerUtils Provides container creation and other container-related functions. nsIRDFObserver Fires events when data is changed in a datasource. nsIRDFXMLParser, nsIRDFXMLSerializer, nsIRDFXMLSink, nsIRDFXMLSource Used for working with RDF/XML. Functions are provided for parsing files and serializing content. The sheer variety of RDF interfaces may seem overwhelming, but all interfaces serve different purposes and are often used in conjunction with one another. In your particular application space, you may find yourself using some subsets of these interfaces constantly and others not at all. This section describes some of the most commonly used functions. You can look up all of interfaces in their entirety at http://lxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/source/rdf/base/idl/. 10.3.3. nsIRDFService If you will do any sort of RDF processing, you need to use the nsIRDFService interface. It provides the basics for working with datasources, resources, and literals, and is useful when you process RDF data. nsIRDFService can be initialized by using the getService method of the rdf-service class: RDF = Components.classes[`@mozilla.org/rdf/rdf- service;1'] getService(Components.interfaces.nsIRDFService); Once the service is available, it's ready to go to work. Even though no datasource is created yet (in this particular example), the RDF service can still get resources and literals, as shown in the next section. 10.3.3.1. Getting a resource Once a resource is created (e.g., with the identifier urn:root in Example 10-7), it needs to be added to a datasource: rootResource = RDF.GetResource('urn:root'); When a resource is already registered under the given identifier (see Section 10.3.3.4, later in this chapter for more information about RDF registration), then GetResource returns that resource. 10.3.3.2. Getting an anonymous resource Anonymous resources are resources with no resource identifier. Here is the creation of a new anonymous resource and a test of its anonymity: anonResource = RDF.GetAnonymousResource( ); // This would be true. Checking is not necessary, just here for example. isAnon = RDF.isAnonymousResource(anonResource); Typically, these resources are turned into containers, as shown in the next section. Anonymous resources exist when names are not needed and a simple reference to that resource is all that is required. 10.3.3.3. Getting a literal The GetLiteral function returns the given name in the format of a literal, which you can then use to assert into an RDF graph as a resource. myName = RDF.GetLiteral('Eric'); Variations on this function are GetIntLiteral and GetDateLiteral. 10.3.3.4. Registering and unregistering datasources If you create a Mozilla application that uses the same datasource or RDF resources in different ways, you may want to register the datasource with Mozilla. When you register a datasource, you register it as a component in Mozilla (see Section 8.1.6 for more information on Mozilla's component model), which means it can be accessed and used as easily as any other XPCOM component, and from anywhere in Mozilla. To register a datasource, call the RegisterDatasource method of the RDF Service. In this example, the datasource already exists and is assigned to a variable named myDatasource: RDF.RegisterDataSource(myDatasource, false); In this case, myDatasource is the datasource name, and the false parameter specifies that this datasource is not replacing a datasource with the same name. Once a datasource is registered with the component manager in this way, it can be retrieved by name and associated with another instance: secondDatasource = anotherRDF.GetDataSource("My Datasource"); To unregister a datasource from the RDF Service, pass the datasource into the UnRegisterDataSource function: RDF.UnRegisterDataSource(myDatasource); Once it's unregistered, a datasource is no longer available to other instances of the RDF Service. Registered resources work the same way as datasources in the RDF Service: if a resource is registered with the RDF Service, then it is available in every instance of RDF Service. To get two different instances of the same registered datasource and unregister its use: newResource = RDF.GetResource('my.resource'); RDF.RegisterResource(newResource,false); notNewResource = RDF.GetResource('my.resource'); RDF.UnRegisterResource(notNewResource); If you register resources and datasources, be sure to use the overwrite Boolean variable on RegisterDataSource and RegisterResource to avoid overwriting existing datasources. 10.3.3.5. Getting a remote datasource Finally, nsIRDFService provides a useful method that loads a datasource from a remote server, which is a process that occurs asynchronously. Compared to forthcoming discussions about datasource loading, GetDataSource is a real shortcut: remoteDatasource = RDF.GetDataSource('http://books.mozdev.org/file.rdf '); Remember that RDF files requested in this way must be set with the text/rdf MIME type on the web server to load properly. 10.3.4. nsIRDFCompositeDataSource When you work with multiple datasources, you can make things easier by grouping them, which nsIRDFCompositeDataSource allows you to do. This functionality aggregates data in a number of Mozilla's applications. To get this interface, invoke: composite_datasource = '@mozilla.org/rdf/datasource;1?name=composite- datasource'; compDataSource = Components.classes[composite_datasource] [...]... nsIRDFCompositeDatasource also inherits the many functions of nsIRDFDataSource; refer to the section Section 10.3 .5 for more information 10.3 .5 nsIRDFDataSource The nsIRDFDataSource interface is large, with twenty functions and one attribute (URI), so it's one of the most common interfaces used to manipulate RDF data nsIRDFDataSource contains all the components in Example 10-6 with "datasource" in their... GetSource The main purpose of the nsIRDFDatasource interface is to work with RDF triples inside a datasource, allowing you to change that datasource's RDF graph 10.3 .5.1 Assertion and removal Recall from the Section 10.1 .1.2 section, earlier in this chapter, that triples are RDF statements in which the relationship between the subject, predicate, and object is more strictly defined In the interface code, a... graph itself For example, the @mozilla.org /rdf/ datasource;1?name=in-memorydatasource RDF component demonstrates the use of the nsIRDFDataSource interface When this component is created, it's a blank datasource in memory, into which objects are inserted, changed, and removed You can access the nsIRDFDataSource interface from the RDF component by first constructing an RDF graph in the in-memory datasource:... statements and resources and want to make sure you are not overwriting pre-existing resources 10.3 .5.5 GetTarget The GetTarget method returns the resource's property value (i.e., the object) Given the RDF statement "(Eric) wrote (a book)," for example, the GetTarget method would input "Eric" and "wrote" and get back the object "a book." Once again, the example code is based on the previous examples:... along with other common components: @mozilla.org/browser/bookmarks-service;1 @mozilla.org/related-links-handler;1 @mozilla.org/browser/localsearch-service;1 @mozilla.org/registry-viewer;1 @mozilla.org/browser/global-history;1 The nsIRDFDataSource interface is meant to handle some of the core interaction with the datasource APIs such as URI, GetTarget, Assert, and Change are helpful for working on the RDF. .. RDF. GetResource('http://books.mozdev.org /rdf# title' ); object = RDF. GetLiteral('Mozilla as a Platform'); datasource.Assert(subject,predicate,object,true); newObject = RDF. GetLiteral('Mozilla is a cool Platform!'); datasource.Change(subject,predicate,newObject,); If working with triples seems hard in the template generation, their use in these examples where adding to and changing the parts is so easy may make things clearer 10.3 .5.3... elements into the datasource in this way, the datasource contains the triple The truth value parameter in the last slot indicates that the given node is "locked" and thus cannot be overwritten Removing a triple from the datasource is as easy as adding it If you try to remove a triple that doesn't exist, your request is ignored and no error messages are raised To unassert a triple in the datasource,... nsIEnumeration of the object and its properties In addition to GetTarget, as seen above, a GetTargets function returns an object and its properties in an enumeration This function can be very handy for quick access to resources with fewer function calls 10.3 .5.6 GetSource GetSource is the inverse of GetTarget Whereas GetTarget returns an object, GetSource returns the subject attached to an object Given the RDF statement... rootSubject = RDF. GetResource('urn:root'); predicate = RDF. GetResource('http://books.mozdev.org /rdf# chapte rs'); object = RDF. GetResource('Chapter8'); datasource.Unassert(rootSubject,predicate,object); 10.3 .5.2 Changing values Changing values in a datasource is also very easy Assert and change a literal in the datasource as follows: subject = RDF. GetResource('Chapter1'); predicate = RDF. GetResource('http://books.mozdev.org /rdf# title'... as resources rather than plain URIs, which means they can be asserted into a datasource in the particular sequence that makes them meaningful as parts of a triple: rootSubject = RDF. GetResource('urn:root'); predicate = RDF. GetResource('http://books.mozdev.org /rdf# chapte rs'); object = RDF. GetResource('Chapter1'); datasource.Assert(rootSubject,predicate,object,true ); Once you assert the statement's . Chapter 10. RDF, RDF Tools, and the Content Model-P3 10. 3.1. What Is an RDF Component? An RDF component may implement any number of the general RDF interfaces. other instances of the RDF Service. Registered resources work the same way as datasources in the RDF Service: if a resource is registered with the RDF