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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User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to the Bioperl mailing list. Your participation is much appreciated.

bioperl-l@bioperl.org                  - General discussion
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Support

Please direct usage questions or support issues to the mailing list:

bioperl-l@bioperl.org

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:

https://redmine.open-bio.org/projects/bioperl/

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   : name
Usage   : $obj->name($newval)
Function: Get/set the name of this ontology.
Example : 
Returns : value of name (a scalar)
Args    : 

authority

Title   : authority
Usage   : $auth = $obj->authority()
Function: Get/set the authority for this ontology, for instance the
          DNS base for the organization granting the name of the
          ontology and identifiers for the terms.

          This attribute is optional and should not generally
          expected by applications to have been set. It is here to
          follow the rules for namespaces, which ontologies serve as
          for terms.

Example : 
Returns : value of authority (a scalar)
Args    : 

identifier

Title   : identifier
Usage   : $id = $obj->identifier()
Function: Get an identifier for this ontology.

          This is primarily intended for look-up purposes. Clients
          should not expect the value to be modifiable, and it may
          not be allowed to set its value from outside. Also, the
          identifier's uniqueness may only hold within the scope of a
          particular application's run time, i.e., it may be a memory
          location.

Example : 
Returns : value of identifier (a scalar)
Args    : 

definition

Title   : definition
Usage   : $def = $obj->definition()
Function: Get a descriptive definition for this ontology.
Example : 
Returns : value of definition (a scalar)
Args    : 

close

Title   : close
Usage   :
Function: Release any resources this ontology may occupy. In order
          to efficiently release used memory or file handles, you
          should call this method once you are finished with an
          ontology.

Example :
Returns : TRUE on success and FALSE otherwise
Args    : 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_term
Usage   : add_term(TermI term): TermI
Function: Adds TermI object to the ontology engine term store.

          For ease of use, if the ontology property of the term
          object was not set, an implementation is encouraged to set
          it to itself upon adding the term.

Example : $oe->add_term($term)
Returns : its argument.
Args    : object of class TermI.

add_relationship

Title   : add_relationship
Usage   : add_relationship(RelationshipI relationship): RelationshipI
Function: Adds a relationship object to the ontology engine.
Example :
Returns : Its argument.
Args    : A RelationshipI object.

get_relationships

Title   : get_relationships
Usage   : get_relationships(TermI term): RelationshipI
Function: 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 objects
Args    : None, or a Bio::Ontology::TermI compliant object for which
          to retrieve the relationships.

get_predicate_terms

Title   : get_predicate_terms
Usage   : get_predicate_terms(): TermI[]
Function:
Example :
Returns :
Args    :

get_child_terms

Title   : get_child_terms
Usage   : get_child_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermI
Function: Retrieves all child terms of a given term, that satisfy a
          relationship among those that are specified in the second
          argument or undef otherwise. get_child_terms is a special
          case of get_descendant_terms, limiting the search to the
          direct descendants.

Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
          of relationship type terms.

get_descendant_terms

Title   : get_descendant_terms
Usage   : get_descendant_terms(TermI term, TermI rel_types): TermI
Function: Retrieves all descendant terms of a given term, that
          satisfy a relationship among those that are specified in
          the second argument or undef otherwise.
Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
          of relationship type terms.

get_parent_terms

Title   : get_parent_terms
Usage   : get_parent_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermI
Function: Retrieves all parent terms of a given term, that satisfy a
          relationship among those that are specified in the second
          argument or undef otherwise. get_parent_terms is a special
          case of get_ancestor_terms, limiting the search to the
          direct ancestors.

Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
          of relationship type terms.

get_ancestor_terms

Title   : get_ancestor_terms
Usage   : get_ancestor_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermI
Function: Retrieves all ancestor terms of a given term, that satisfy
          a relationship among those that are specified in the second
          argument or undef otherwise.

Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
          of relationship type terms.

get_leaf_terms

Title   : get_leaf_terms
Usage   : get_leaf_terms(): TermI
Function: Retrieves all leaf terms from the ontology. Leaf term is a
          term w/o descendants.

Example : @leaf_terms = $obj->get_leaf_terms()
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    :

get_root_terms()

Title   : get_root_terms
Usage   : get_root_terms(): TermI
Function: Retrieves all root terms from the ontology. Root term is a
          term w/o descendants.

Example : @root_terms = $obj->get_root_terms()
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    :

get_all_terms

Title   : get_all_terms
Usage   : get_all_terms: TermI
Function: Retrieves all terms from the ontology.

          We do not mandate an order here in which the terms are
          returned. In fact, the default implementation will return
          them in unpredictable order.

Example : @terms = $obj->get_all_terms()
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args    :

find_terms

Title   : find_terms
Usage   : ($term) = $oe->find_terms(-identifier => "SO:0000263");
Function: Find term instances matching queries for their attributes.

          An implementation may not support querying for arbitrary
          attributes, 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 objects
Args    : Named parameters. The following parameters should be recognized
          by any implementation:

             -identifier    query by the given identifier
             -name          query by the given name

Factory for relationships and terms

relationship_factory

Title   : relationship_factory
Usage   : $fact = $obj->relationship_factory()
Function: Get (and set, if the implementation supports it) the object
          factory to be used when relationship objects are created by
          the implementation on-the-fly.

Example : 
Returns : value of relationship_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryI
          compliant object)
Args    : 

term_factory

Title   : term_factory
Usage   : $fact = $obj->term_factory()
Function: Get (and set, if the implementation supports it) the object
          factory to be used when term objects are created by
          the implementation on-the-fly.

Example : 
Returns : value of term_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryI
          compliant object)
Args    :