Type features

The following document describes Type entity features.

Additional references to parent nodes

NOTE This feature is currently not implemented. In the future, this feature will be also available for Attribute.

Type can contain additional references to other parent nodes. The connection means that the Type becomes a child of the referenced parent nodes. In a result, the Type has multiple parents.

Currently, the feature brings the following benefits:

• GraphQL API: it allows User to find related Types based on a prefix of the parent node.
• Implementation manifest: the requires property in Implementation manifest can refer to Types, which has additional references to parent node

Find Types based on prefix of parent nodes

NOTE This feature is currently not implemented.

1. cap.type.platform.cloud-foundry references cap.core.type.platform empty node:

   # Type manifest
   kind: Type
   metadata:
      name: cloud-foundry
      # (...)
   spec:
      additionalRefs:
         - cap.core.type.platform
   # (...)

2. User queries Hub for all Types with prefix cap.core.type.platform.*.

3. Hub returns the following Types:

   - name: "cap.core.type.platform.kubernetes"
   - name: "cap.type.platform.cloud-foundry"

Requirements section in Implementation manifest

NOTE This feature is currently not implemented.

Type cap.type.platform.cloud-foundry can specify additional reference to cap.core.type.platform empty node.

# Type manifest
kind: Type
metadata:
   name: cloud-foundry
   # (...)
spec:
   additionalRefs:
      - cap.core.type.platform
# (...)

In that way, the Type cap.type.platform.cloud-foundry can be used in the context of any Type with prefix cap.type.platform.*, such as requires property:

# Implementation manifest
# (...)
spec:
   # (...)
   requires:
    cap.core.type.platform:
      oneOf:
        - name: kubernetes
          revision: 0.1.0
        - name: cap.type.platform.cloud-foundry
          revision: 0.1.1

Type composition

NOTE This feature is currently not implemented.

Type entities can be defined in a form of composition of other Types. It gives you an ability to define common Type definitions once and reuse them later.

To enable Content Creator to compose Types in JSON schema, we use, among other things, built-in JSON Schema combining functionality. Every time we see a reference to external JSON schema, we fetch the type and embed its schema.

Once Content Creator submits a new Type and there is a reference to other Type, we create edges in the Hub for every single Type reference. It enables us to easily find Types, which are derived from original Types.

This feature allows User to run generic Actions against different TypeInstances. For example, there could be an Action that takes IP Addresses as input. Thanks to the Type composition, User will be able to use the IP Addresses, which are nested in other TypeInstances.