Interface IUnit

All Superinterfaces:
IEventSource, IUnitCreator, IUserDataSupport
All Known Subinterfaces:
IAddressableUnit, IApkUnit, IArchiveUnit, IBinaryUnit, ICertificateUnit, ICodeObjectUnit, ICodeUnit, IDalvikDebuggerUnit, IDartAotUnit, IDebuggerUnit, IDecompilerUnit, IDexDecompilerUnit, IDexUnit, IDuplicatedUnit, IELFUnit, IInteractiveUnit, IJavaSourceUnit, IJsonUnit, INativeCodeUnit<InsnType>, INativeDebuggerUnit, INativeDecompilerUnit<InsnType>, INativeSourceUnit, IPECOFFUnit, IS7Unit, ISourceUnit, IXApkUnit, IXmlUnit
All Known Implementing Classes:
AbstractBinaryUnit, AbstractCodeObjectUnit, AbstractCodeUnit, AbstractInteractiveBinaryUnit, AbstractInteractiveUnit, AbstractUnit, BinaryWrapperUnit, ContainerUnit, DataContainerUnit, FileContainerUnit, InteractiveWrapperUnit, LazyDataContainerUnit, UnknownBinaryUnit, WrapperUnit

@Ser public interface IUnit extends IEventSource, IUnitCreator, IUserDataSupport
Base interface for units.

Units parse input data (bytes or product of other units), and produce data and documents to be displayed by a client. Units may also produce and contain children. Children may be persisted (default) or transient. Top-level units (ie, those that are children of an artifact) are always persisted.

Implementors should extend one of the abstract classes that partially implement IUnit and derived interfaces, such as AbstractUnit. Specialized units, such as binary code parsers, have highly-specialized interfaces that clients take advantage of to display extra information and/or offer features specific to such units.

Implementation guidelines (non-exhaustive):

  • Constructors of IUnit objects should do as little processing as possible
  • Processing, such as the parsing or generation of intermediate abstractions, should be done in the process() method.
  • After processing, isProcessed() should return true
  • If processing cannot be done, process() should return false. An information message may be set to let the client know why the unit cannot be processed
  • Most methods can only be called after successful processing; calling them on a non-processed unit results in undefined behavior (and most likely, will raise an exception)
  • When unit internal state changes, units should issue an appropriate J.UnitXxx event.
See Also:
  • Method Details

    • getInput

      default IInput getInput()
      Get the primary input data for that unit, if there is some. Usually, for top-level units, it will be the input of the parent artifact.
      Specified by:
      getInput in interface IUnitCreator
      Returns:
      optional input object, may be null
    • getExtraInputs

      default Collection<IInput> getExtraInputs()
      Get additional inputs.
      Returns:
      a collection of additional input objects (generally empty)
    • getParentProject

      default IRuntimeProject getParentProject()
      Retrieve the parent project that owns this unit.
      Returns:
    • getParentArtifact

      default IArtifact getParentArtifact()
      Retrieve the artifact from which this unit derive.
      Returns:
    • getPropertyDefinitionManager

      IPropertyDefinitionManager getPropertyDefinitionManager()
      Retrieve the PDM used by this unit. For consistency, it is recommend that all units of a given type return equivalent PDMs.
      Returns:
      the property definition manager
    • getPropertyManager

      IPropertyManager getPropertyManager()
      Retrieve the PM used by this unit.
      Returns:
      the property manager
    • getUid

      long getUid()
      Retrieve an identifier that uniquely identifies the unit within its project.
      Returns:
      a strictly positive long integer
    • getFormatType

      String getFormatType()
      Mandatory unit type. The type should be unique across all units. It should be the same as the identifier's type.
      Returns:
      the non-null unit type
    • getIconData

      byte[] getIconData()
      The icon bytes representing units of such type. Typically, the data represents a 16x16 BMP or PNG image. Clients may use this data to represent labels for such units in a graphical way.
      Returns:
      the BMP or PNG bytes of an icon
    • getUnitProcessor

      IUnitProcessor getUnitProcessor()
      Retrieve the unit processor used by this unit.
      Returns:
      the processor
    • getCreationTimestamp

      long getCreationTimestamp()
      Get the date of creation of this unit.
      Returns:
      the creation timestamp in milliseconds since the unix epoch
    • getName

      String getName()
      Get the unit name.
      Specified by:
      getName in interface IUnitCreator
      Returns:
      the unit name
    • setName

      void setName(String name)
      Set the unit name.
      Parameters:
      name - the unit name
    • getRealName

      String getRealName()
      Retrieve the optional real unit name.
      Returns:
      potentially null
    • setRealName

      void setRealName(String name)
      Set the optional unit's real name.
      Parameters:
      name -
    • getNotes

      String getNotes()
      Get user-defined notes. The notes can be textual data of any sort.
      Returns:
      the notes
    • setNotes

      void setNotes(String notes)
      Set user-defined notes. The notes can be textual data of any sort.
      Parameters:
      notes - the notes
    • getParent

      IUnitCreator getParent()
      Retrieve the creator (or parent) of this unit. It can be a parent IUnit or an IArtifact, for top-level units.
      Specified by:
      getParent in interface IUnitCreator
      Returns:
      the parent
    • process

      boolean process()
      Process the unit. Processing almost always involves parsing, eg, for a code disassembler unit, processing could mean disassembling machine code. This method is called by the unit producer, typically, those are:
      • a unit identifier who successfully identified input data, and who was later called by a processor
      • a parent unit doing the identification itself, and calling a child unit process() directly
      Returns:
      true if processing is or was successful (in the latter case, process() should do nothing but return true), or false is processing failed. The unit should also notify clients by issuing a J.UnitProcessed event. If processing succeeded, subsequent calls to isProcessed() should return true.
    • getStatus

      String getStatus()
      Get the status for the unit. Plugins should set a status if processing failed. Implementors must notify their listeners by issuing a J.UnitStatusChanged event.
      Returns:
      a status string, used by clients to inform users about the status of this unit. null signifies that the unit is in an OK or unknown state
    • isProcessed

      boolean isProcessed()
      Verify if the unit was successfully processed.
      Returns:
      true if the unit was successfully processed
    • isStale

      boolean isStale()
      Determine whether the unit was successfully processed, but is now considered to be stale (outdated content). Re-processing is encouraged but not mandatory.

      The result is irrelevant if isProcessed() is false.

      Returns:
      whether the unit stale; this method should return false if isProcessed() returns false
    • canBePersisted

      boolean canBePersisted()
      Determine if this unit can be persisted. This method can be used by parent units and client code to verify if a child unit can legally be persisted.
      Returns:
      true if the unit can be persisted, false if the unit must not be persisted
    • getChildren

      List<? extends IUnit> getChildren()
      Retrieve a read-only list of all direct children units.
      Returns:
      the children or an empty list, never null
    • addChild

      void addChild(IUnit unit)
      Register a child unit to this unit. The child unit is persisted. Same as addChild(child, true).
      Parameters:
      unit - the child unit
    • addChild

      void addChild(IUnit unit, boolean persisted)
      Add a child unit to this unit. Implementations must check for duplicate and also notify clients by emitting the right event.
      Parameters:
      unit - the child unit
      persisted - true if the unit should be persisted upon project saving
    • isTransientChild

      boolean isTransientChild(IUnit unit)
      Check if a child unit is transient. By default, children units are persisted.
      Parameters:
      unit - the child unit
      Returns:
      true if the child is non-persisted
    • removeChild

      void removeChild(IUnit unit)
      Remove a direct child of the current unit.
      Parameters:
      unit - the unit removed
    • dispose

      void dispose()
      Dispose of the resources used by this unit.
    • isDisposed

      boolean isDisposed()
      Indicate if the unit has been disposed
      Returns:
      disposal status
      See Also:
    • getDescription

      String getDescription()
      Get a description string for that unit.

      The unit must be processed before calling this method.

      Returns:
      a description string
    • getFormatter

      IUnitFormatter getFormatter()
      Retrieve a fresh formatter for that unit. Formatters are used to produce document outputs, that represent the unit in whole or in part.

      The unit must be processed before calling this method.

      Returns:
      a new formatter, never null
    • getNotificationManager

      IUnitNotificationManager getNotificationManager()
      Get a reference to the notification manager.
      Returns:
      the notification manager, never null
    • setUnitProcessor

      void setUnitProcessor(IUnitProcessor processor)
      Set the unit processor. This method is called by the managing project or (engines) context.
      Parameters:
      processor - the unit processor
    • initializePropertyObjects

      void initializePropertyObjects(IUnitCreator parent, IUnitProcessor processor, IPropertyDefinitionManager pdm)
      Initialize the property manager and property definition manager used by this unit.

      Code that needs access to the unit's property manager right after deserialization can safely do so after execution of this method.

      Parameters:
      parent - the parent unit or artifact
      processor - the processor
      pdm - the property definition manager for units of this type
    • postDeserialization

      void postDeserialization(IRuntimeProject prj)
      This method is called by the engines after a unit has been fully deserialized. Final repairs (eg, retrieving and re-connecting global objects that were not serialized) may be done by this method. The unit's project and engines are now accessible.
      Parameters:
      prj - the project to which this unit belongs
    • setParent

      void setParent(IUnitCreator parent)
      Set the parent unit or artifact.
      Parameters:
      parent - the parent
    • getInterpreters

      List<IUnitInterpreter> getInterpreters()
      Get the list of command interpreters attached to the unit.
      Returns:
      the interpreter, null if none
    • getContributions

      List<IUnitContribution> getContributions()
      Get the list of contributions attached to the unit.
      Returns:
    • generateQuickState

      IQuickStateObject generateQuickState()
      Save the state of this unit (it may be a partial state). Implementation of this method is optional.
      Returns:
      a state object or null if unsupported
    • getLock

      IUnitLock getLock()
      Get the unit lock.
      Returns:
    • notifyGenericChange

      default void notifyGenericChange()
      Notify all listeners of a generic change, i.e. the contents of this unit was modified, listeners and controllers should refresh the views representing this unit.