Bio::Ontology::Term(3)

NAME
Bio::Ontology::Term - implementation of the interface for ontology terms

SYNOPSIS
#get Bio::Ontology::TermI somehow.

  print $term->identifier(), "\n";
  print $term->name(), "\n";
  print $term->definition(), "\n";
  print $term->is_obsolete(), "\n";
  print $term->comment(), "\n";

  foreach my $synonym ( $term->each_synonym() ) {
      print $synonym, "\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION
This is a simple implementation for ontology terms providing basic methods (it provides no functionality related to graphs). It implements the Bio::Ontology::TermI interface.

This class also implements Bio::IdentifiableI and Bio::DescribableI.

FEEDBACK

  Mailing Lists
User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to one of the Bioperl mailing lists. Your participation is much appreciated.

  bioperl-l@bioperl.org                  - General discussion
  http://bioperl.org/wiki/Mailing_lists  - About the mailing lists

  Support
Please direct usage questions or support issues to the mailing list:

bioperl-l@bioperl.org

rather than to the module maintainer directly. Many experienced and reponsive experts will be able look at the problem and quickly address it. Please include a thorough description of the problem with code and data examples if at all possible.

  Reporting Bugs
Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via the web:

  http://bugzilla.open-bio.org/

AUTHOR
Christian M. Zmasek

Email: czmasek-at-burnham.org or cmzmasek@yahoo.com

WWW: http://monochrome-effect.net/

Address:

  Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation
  10675 John Jay Hopkins Drive
  San Diego, CA 92121

APPENDIX
The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods.

  new
 Title   : new
 Usage   : $term = Bio::Ontology::Term->new(
                -identifier  => "16847",
                -name        => "1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase",
                -definition  => "Catalysis of ...",
                -is_obsolete => 0,
                -comment     => "" );
 Function: Creates a new Bio::Ontology::Term.
 Returns : A new Bio::Ontology::Term object.
 Args    : -identifier            => the identifier of this term [scalar]
           -name                  => the name of this term [scalar]
           -definition            => the definition of this term [scalar]
           -ontology              => the ontology this term lives in
                                     (a Bio::Ontology::OntologyI object)
           -version               => version information [scalar]
           -is_obsolete           => the obsoleteness of this term [0 or 1]
           -comment               => a comment [scalar]
           -dblinks               => Bio::Annotation::DBLink objects
                                     [reference to array]
           -references            => Bio::Annotation::Reference objects
                                     [reference to array]

See Bio::Ontology::OntologyI, Bio::Annotation::Reference, Bio::Annotation::DBLink.

  identifier
 Title   : identifier
 Usage   : $term->identifier( "GO:0003947" );
           or
           print $term->identifier();
 Function: Set/get for the identifier of this Term.
 Returns : The identifier [scalar].
 Args    : The identifier [scalar] (optional).

  name
 Title   : name
 Usage   : $term->name( "N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase" );
           or
           print $term->name();
 Function: Set/get for the name of this Term.
 Returns : The name [scalar].
 Args    : The name [scalar] (optional).

  definition
 Title   : definition
 Usage   : $term->definition( "Catalysis of ..." );
           or
           print $term->definition();
 Function: Set/get for the definition of this Term.
 Returns : The definition [scalar].
 Args    : The definition [scalar] (optional).

  ontology
 Title   : ontology
 Usage   : $ont = $term->ontology();
           or
           $term->ontology( $ont );
 Function: Get the ontology this term is in.

           Note that with the ontology in hand you can query for all
           related terms etc.

 Returns : The ontology of this Term as a Bio::Ontology::OntologyI
           implementing object.
 Args    : On set, the  ontology of this Term as a Bio::Ontology::OntologyI
           implementing object or a string representing its name.

See Bio::Ontology::OntologyI.

  version
 Title   : version
 Usage   : $term->version( "1.00" );
           or
           print $term->version();
 Function: Set/get for version information.
 Returns : The version [scalar].
 Args    : The version [scalar] (optional).

  is_obsolete
 Title   : is_obsolete
 Usage   : $term->is_obsolete( 1 );
           or
           if ( $term->is_obsolete() )
 Function: Set/get for the obsoleteness of this Term.
 Returns : the obsoleteness [0 or 1].
 Args    : the obsoleteness [0 or 1] (optional).

  comment
 Title   : comment
 Usage   : $term->comment( "Consider the term ..." );
           or
           print $term->comment();
 Function: Set/get for an arbitrary comment about this Term.
 Returns : A comment.
 Args    : A comment (optional).

  get_synonyms
 Title   : get_synonyms
 Usage   : @aliases = $term->get_synonyms;
 Function: Returns a list of aliases of this Term.
 Returns : A list of aliases [array of [scalar]].
 Args    :

  add_synonym
 Title   : add_synonym
 Usage   : $term->add_synonym( @asynonyms );
           or
           $term->add_synonym( $synonym );
 Function: Pushes one or more synonyms into the list of synonyms.
 Returns :
 Args    : One synonym [scalar] or a list of synonyms [array of [scalar]].

  remove_synonyms
 Title   : remove_synonyms()
 Usage   : $term->remove_synonyms();
 Function: Deletes (and returns) the synonyms of this Term.
 Returns : A list of synonyms [array of [scalar]].
 Args    :

  get_dblinks
 Title   : get_dblinks()
 Usage   : @ds = $term->get_dblinks();
 Function: Returns a list of each dblinks of this GO term.
 Returns : A list of dblinks [array of [scalars]].
 Args    : A scalar indicating the context (optional).
           If omitted, all dblinks will be returned.
 Note    : deprecated method due to past use of mixed data types; use
           get_dbxrefs() instead, which handles both strings and DBLink
           instances

  get_dbxrefs
 Title   : get_dbxrefs()
 Usage   : @ds = $term->get_dbxrefs();
 Function: Returns a list of each link for this term.

           If an implementor of this interface permits modification of
           this array property, the class should define at least
           methods add_dbxref() and remove_dbxrefs(), with obvious
           functionality.

 Returns : A list of L<Bio::Annotation::DBLink> instances
 Args    : [optional] string which specifies context (default : returns all dbxrefs)

  get_dblink_context
  Title   : get_dblink_context
  Usage   : @context = $term->get_dblink_context;
  Function: Return all context existing in Term
  Returns : a list of scalar
  Args    : [none]
  Note    : deprecated method due to past use of mixed data types; use
            get_dbxref_context() instead

  get_dbxref_context
  Title   : get_dbxref_context
  Usage   : @context = $term->get_dbxref_context;
  Function: Return all context strings existing in Term
  Returns : a list of scalars
  Args    : [none]

  add_dblink
 Title   : add_dblink
 Usage   : $term->add_dblink( @dbls );
           or
           $term->add_dblink( $dbl );
 Function: Pushes one or more dblinks onto the list of dblinks.
 Returns :
 Args    : One or more L<Bio::Annotation::DBLink> instances
 Note    : deprecated method due to past use of mixed data types; use
           add_dbxref() instead, which handles both strings and
           DBLink instances

  add_dbxref
 Title   : add_dbxref
 Usage   : $term->add_dbxref( @dbls );
           or
           $term->add_dbxref( $dbl );
 Function: Pushes one or more dblinks onto the list of dblinks.
 Returns :
 Args    : -dbxrefs : array ref of Bio::Annotation::DBLink instances
           -context : string designating the context for the DBLink
                       (default : '_default' - contextless)

  has_dblink
  Title   : has_dblink
  Usage   : $term->has_dblink($dblink);
  Function: Checks if a DBXref is already existing in the OBOterm object
  Return  : TRUE/FALSE
  Args    : [arg1] A DBxref identifier
  Note    : deprecated method due to past use of mixed data types; use
            has_dbxref() instead, which handles both strings and
            DBLink instances

  has_dbxref
  Title   : has_dbxref
  Usage   : $term->has_dbxref($dbxref);
  Function: Checks if a dbxref string is already existing in the OBOterm object
  Return  : TRUE/FALSE
  Args    : [arg1] A DBxref identifier (string).
            Bio::Annotation::DBLink::display_text() is used for comparison
            against the string.

  add_dblink_context
  Title   : add_dblink_context
  Usage   : $term->add_dblink_context($db, $context);
  Function: add a dblink with its context
  Return  : [none]
  Args    : [arg1] a Bio::Annotation::DBLink instance
            [arg2] a string for context; if omitted, the
                   default/context-less one will be used.
  Note    : deprecated method due to past use of mixed data types; use
            add_dbxref() instead

  remove_dblinks
 Title   : remove_dblinks()
 Usage   : $term->remove_dblinks();
 Function: Deletes (and returns) the definition references of this GO term.
 Returns : A list of definition references [array of [scalars]].
 Args    : Context. If omitted or equal to 'all', all dblinks
           will be removed.
 Note    : deprecated method due to past use of mixed data types; use
           remove_dblinks() instead, which handles both strings and
           DBLink instances

  remove_dbxrefs
 Title   : remove_dbxrefs()
 Usage   : $term->remove_dbxrefs();
 Function: Deletes (and returns) the definition references of this GO term.
 Returns : A list of definition references [array of [scalars]].
 Args    : Context. If omitted or equal to 'all', all dblinks
           will be removed.

  get_references
  Title   : get_references
  Usage   : @references = $self->get_references
  Fuctnion: Returns a list of references
  Return  : A list of objects
  Args    : [none]

  add_reference
  Title   : add_reference
  Usage   : $self->add_reference($reference);
            $self->add_reference($reference1, $reference2);
  Fuctnion: Add one or more references
  Returns : [none]

  remove_references
  Title   : remove_references
  Usage   : $self->remove_references;
  Function: Deletes (and returns) all references
  Returns : A list of references
  Args    : [none]

  get_secondary_ids
 Title   : get_secondary_ids
 Usage   : @ids = $term->get_secondary_ids();
 Function: Returns a list of secondary identifiers of this Term.

           Secondary identifiers mostly originate from merging terms,
           or possibly also from splitting terms.

 Returns : A list of secondary identifiers [array of [scalar]]
 Args    :

  add_secondary_id
 Title   : add_secondary_id
 Usage   : $term->add_secondary_id( @ids );
           or
           $term->add_secondary_id( $id );
 Function: Adds one or more secondary identifiers to this term.
 Returns :
 Args    : One or more secondary identifiers [scalars]

  remove_secondary_ids
 Title   : remove_secondary_ids
 Usage   : $term->remove_secondary_ids();
 Function: Deletes (and returns) the secondary identifiers of this Term.
 Returns : The previous list of secondary identifiers [array of [scalars]]
 Args    :

Methods implementing Bio::IdentifiableI and Bio::DescribableI

  object_id
 Title   : object_id
 Usage   : $string    = $obj->object_id()
 Function: a string which represents the stable primary identifier
           in this namespace of this object.

           This is a synonym for identifier().

 Returns : A scalar

  authority
 Title   : authority
 Usage   : $authority    = $obj->authority()
 Function: a string which represents the organisation which
           granted the namespace, written as the DNS name for
           organisation (eg, wormbase.org)

           This forwards to ontology()->authority(). Note that you
           cannot set the authority before having set the ontology or
           the namespace (which will set the ontology).

 Returns : A scalar
 Args    : on set, the new value (a scalar)

  namespace
 Title   : namespace
 Usage   : $string    = $obj->namespace()
 Function: A string representing the name space this identifier
           is valid in, often the database name or the name
           describing the collection.

           This forwards to ontology() (set mode) and
           ontology()->name() (get mode). I.e., setting the namespace
           will set the ontology to one matching that name in the
           ontology store, or to one newly created.

 Returns : A scalar
 Args    : on set, the new value (a scalar)

  display_name
 Title   : display_name
 Usage   : $string    = $obj->display_name()
 Function: A string which is what should be displayed to the user.

           The definition in Bio::DescribableI states that the
           string should not contain spaces. As this is not very
           sensible for ontology terms, we relax this here. The
           implementation just forwards to name().

 Returns : A scalar
 Args    : on set, the new value (a scalar)

  description
 Title   : description
 Usage   : $string    = $obj->description()
 Function: A text string suitable for displaying to the user a
           description. This string is likely to have spaces, but
           should not have any newlines or formatting - just plain
           text.

           This forwards to definition(). The caveat is that the text
           will often be longer for ontology term definitions than the
           255 characters stated in the definition in
           Bio::DescribableI.

 Returns : A scalar
 Args    : on set, the new value (a scalar)

Deprecated methods
Used for looking up the methods that supercedes them.