Provides interfaces for holding immutable metadata for Content Engine classes (class descriptions) and properties (property descriptions). This namespace contains a base interface (IMetadata), which has subinterfaces related to classes (IClassDescription) and properties (IPropertyDescription). The IPropertyDescription interface, in turn, is itself a base interface and has 8 subinterfaces, each of which holds the metadata for a specific type of property (IPropertyDescriptionBinary, IPropertyDescriptionBoolean, and so on). In addition, this namespace provides an interface for caching immutable metadata (IMetadataCache).


Interfaces

  Interface Description
Public interface IClassDescription Represents the fixed description (immutable metadata) of a class. A ClassDescription object maintains a fixed snapshot, via its properties and property descriptions, of an instantiated object's property metadata throughout the object's lifetime. Because all of its properties are read-only, you cannot directly modify a ClassDescription object. If you need to update the metadata of a class, use its ClassDefinition object.
Public interface IMetadata Represents the base class for classes that hold immutable metadata (class description and property description classes).
Public interface IMetadataCache Represents a client cache of the immutable metadata (class descriptions and their associated property descriptions) for all metadata objects accessed during the life of a given server connection. Using a local metadata cache decreases the time needed to access an object's immutable metadata, therefore improving the performance of client applications. Note that any independent objects that are referenced by a class description, such as choice lists, are not cached.

Only a single, default metadata cache is available for a given server connection, which you can access by calling GetDefaultInstance() on the Factory.MetadataCache class. This cache is also used internally. Metadata caching is enabled by default; to disable it, set the ConfigurationParameter.CLIENT_METADATA_CACHE instance to Boolean.FALSE.

Public interface IPropertyDescription Represents the base class for all property description classes. A property description object holds immutable metadata that describes a specific class property. Each property description class corresponds to a specific property data type (for example, PropertyDescriptionBinary defines a property that returns a binary value, PropertyDescriptionBoolean defines a property that returns a Boolean value, and so on). Because all of its properties are read-only, you cannot directly modify a property description object.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionBinary Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a binary value. A PropertyDescriptionBinary object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionBoolean Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a Boolean value. A PropertyDescriptionBoolean object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionDateTime Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a DateTime value. A PropertyDescriptionDateTime object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionFloat64 Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a Double (Float64) value. A PropertyDescriptionFloat64 object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionId Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a GUID string value. A PropertyDescriptionId object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionInteger32 Represents the fixed description of a property that holds an integer value. A PropertyDescriptionInteger32 object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionObject Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a Content Engine object value. A PropertyDescriptionObject object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.
Public interface IPropertyDescriptionString Represents the fixed description of a property that holds a string value. A PropertyDescriptionString object contains immutable property metadata, which you cannot directly modify.