001/***************************************************************************** 002 * Copyright by The HDF Group. * 003 * Copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. * 004 * All rights reserved. * 005 * * 006 * This file is part of the HDF Java Products distribution. * 007 * The full copyright notice, including terms governing use, modification, * 008 * and redistribution, is contained in the files COPYING and Copyright.html. * 009 * COPYING can be found at the root of the source code distribution tree. * 010 * Or, see http://hdfgroup.org/products/hdf-java/doc/Copyright.html. * 011 * If you do not have access to either file, you may request a copy from * 012 * help@hdfgroup.org. * 013 ****************************************************************************/ 014 015package hdf.object; 016 017/** 018 * Metadata is a general interface for metadata attached to data objects. 019 * Metadata contains supporting information attached to a primary data or 020 * component. Particular implementations of Metadata often provide additional 021 * context-specific objects as well. 022 * <p> 023 * 024 * @version 1.1 9/4/2007 025 * @author Peter X. Cao 026 */ 027public interface Metadata extends java.io.Serializable { 028 /** 029 * Returns the value of this Metadata. 030 * 031 * @return the value of this Metadata. 032 */ 033 public abstract Object getValue(); 034 035 /** 036 * Sets the value of this Metadata. 037 * 038 * @param value the value of this Metadata. 039 */ 040 public abstract void setValue(Object value); 041}