Alterations
Alterations apply or modify annotations to classes and class members when you cannot modify the original class. An annotation can be added or modified if its processor modifies the state of or . An alteration extends the class with the target of the alteration, which must be of type Recordable
.
The annotations’ values are persisted to the object state, and are reflected in the Brightspot UI or in the frontend. For example, suppose you have the following base class Image
:
import com.psddev.cms.db.Content;
public class Image extends Content {
private String title;
}
If you don’t have access to the class Image
, you can change its display name and the display name of its members by applying the annotation @Recordable.DisplayName.
import com.psddev.dari.db.Alteration;
import com.psddev.dari.db.Recordable;
@Recordable.DisplayName("Breaking Image")
public class BreakingImage extends Alteration<Image> {
@DisplayName("Punchy caption")
private String title;
}
-
Changes the class's display name within Brightspot to Breaking Image.
-
Indicates that
BreakingImage
alters the base classImage
, and any annotations applied inBreakingImage
override or are in addition to those inImage
. -
Changes the field's label to Punchy caption.
The following examples illustrate the effect of applying the @DisplayName
annotation on the altered class.
Alterations can also be applied to modifications that extend core classes. For example, say that Image
implements the Promotable
interface, and a modification adds an annotation and a field on all classes that implement Promotable
.
Example 1: Image
implements Promotable interface
public class Image extends Record implements Promotable
Example 2: Modification adds an annotation and a field that impacts the Image
class
@Recordable.FieldInternalNamePrefix("promo.")
public class PromotableData extends Modification<Promotable> {
/* Display name is implicitly "Promotable Title" */
private String promotableTitle;
}
You can expand the ImageAlteration
class to change the display name of the promotableTitle
field in the Image content edit form.
@Recordable.PreviewField("previewFile")
public class ImageAlteration extends Alteration<Image> {
@DisplayName("Image Title")
private String title;
@MimeTypes("+image/png")
private StorageItem file;
@Recordable.InternalName("promo.promotableTitle")
@Recordable.DisplayName("Promotable Image Heading")
private String promotableTitle;
}
The promotableTitle
field added via modification and the alteration to the field’s display name are reflected in the Image
content edit form.
The class ImageAlteration
alters annotation values of one target class, Image
. Alterations can also target interfaces, overriding annotation values of all classes that implement the target interface.
For example, in addition to ImageAlteration
, you can have an alteration that targets the Promotable
interface. This class overrides the display name value of the promotableTitle
field, impacting all class types that implement Promotable
.
public class PromotableAlteration extends Alteration<Promotable> {
@Recordable.InternalName("promo.promotableTitle")
@Recordable.DisplayName("Promotable Heading")
private String promotableTitle;
}
Given that Image
also implements Promotable
, the alteration to dzdzٲվٱ’s
display name is reflected in the Image
content edit form. (Prior to PromotableAlteration
, the dzdzٲվٱ’s
display name in the Image
content edit form was “Promotable Image Heading.”)
If a class is a target of more than one annotation alteration, the annotation values in the class can be overridden by multiple alterations.
Alterations classes are applied alphabetically in ascending order. So in the case of the Image
class, its annotation values are first overridden by ImageAlteration
, then by PromotableAlteration
. Given that both ImageAlteration
and PromotableAlteration
override the promotableTitle
display name, the PromotableAlteration
override value takes precedence over the ImageAlteration
override value.
To summarize the annotation alteration sequence for Image
:
ImageAlteration
ofImage
target overrides:- PreviewField of
Image
class - DisplayName of
title
field - MimeTypes of
file
field - DisplayName of
promotableTitle
field
- PreviewField of
PromotableAlteration
ofPromotable
overrides:- DisplayName of
promotableTitle
field
- DisplayName of