The Metadata Model

The RETS IQ RETS Library includes an in-memory model for Metadata that allows developers to easily traverse and query Metadata.

The top level of the Metadata tree is the MetadataSystem node. On this resources can be retrieved either by iterating through the list using the getResources() method or by requesting them by name using the getResource(String name) method.

The example below fetches the Metadata from the server and then iterates through the Resources and Classifications printing out their names. For the full example code please refer to the GetMetadata example. 

  // Download the Metadata
  MetadataSystem system = session.getMetadata();
  
  // Print out some of the System information
  System.out.println(
    "SYSTEM: " + system.getName() + 
    " - " + system.getDescription());
  
  // Iterate through all the resources
  for(MetadataResource resource: system.getResources()) 
  {
    // Print out the Resource name
    System.out.println(
      "    RESOURCE: " + resource.getName());
    
    // Iterate through all the classifications for the resource
    for(MetadataClass classification: resource.getClasses()) 
    {
      // Print out the classification name and description
      System.out.println(
        "        CLASS: " + classification.getName() +
        " - " + classification.getDescription());
    }
  }

Traversing The Tree Automatically

All nodes in the Metadata model derive from the MetadataTableMap. This allows them to be traversed in a generic manner.

For example if a developer wanted to traverse the complete Metadata tree and print the node types and names recursively then this could be done using the following code. 

  public  void printNode(MetadataTableMap node, int depth) 
  {
    // Indentation
    for(int i = 0; i < depth; ++i) System.out.print("\t");
    
    // Print the node type and node name
    System.out.println(node.getMetadataType() + ": " + node);
    
    // Iterate through each child type
    for(MetadataType type: node.getChildTypes()) 
    {
      // Get the children nodes of a given type
      for(MetadataTableMap child: node.getChildren(type)) 
      {
        // Print out the child node and increase indentation
        printNode(child, depth + 1);
      }
    }
  }
  
  // Get the metadata from the server
  MetadataSystem system = session.getMetadata();
  
  // Print out the system node which will then 
  // recursively call all the children nodes
  printNode(system, 0);

Memory Considerations

The Metadata in-memory model may consume a reasonable amount of memory depending on the size of the metadata. If you get OutOfMemoryException exceptions increase the JVM memory allocation using the -Xms and -Xmx Java virtual machine arguments.

For example to start the JVM with 128MB of memory and allowing it to expand to a maximum of 256MB, the parameters would be -Xms128m and -Xmx256m respectively. 

  java -Xms128m -Xmx256 -cp %MY_CLASSPATH% MyApplication