ICollectionDef Interface

A collection type (also referred to as a collection definition) defines how instances of a particular type of collection will behave. The properties of the collection type determine:

The minimum and maximum number of items in a collection.
Whether or not the collection type is an origin collection type.
Whether or not the collection type permits the naming of destination objects, and if so, whether those names are case-sensitive, and required to be unique.
Whether or not the collection type permits the explicit sequencing of items in the collection.
What happens to related objects when objects or relationships in the collection are deleted.
Whether or not origin collections of this type are automatically copied to new object versions by the CreateVersion method.
Whether the MergeVersion method combines origin collections of this type as a whole, or item by item.
Whether the FreezeVersion method requires that destination object versions of relationships of this type be frozen before the attendant origin object versions can be frozen.

The kind of relationship that a particular collection type uses to relate objects to each other is determined by its CollectionItem collection. The CollectionItem collection associates a single relationship type to the collection type.

To add a new collection type, use the IInterfaceDef interface.

When to Use

Use the ICollectionDef interface to retrieve or modify the properties of a collection type, or to determine the kind of relationship that the collection implements.

Methods

IUnknown Method	Description
QueryInterface	Returns pointers to supported interfaces.
AddRef	Increments the reference count.
Release	Decrements the reference count.

IDispatch Method	Description
GetIDsOfNames	Maps a single member and a set of argument names to a corresponding set of dispatch identifiers.
GetTypeInfo	Retrieves a type information object, which can be used to get the type information for an interface.
GetTypeInfoCount	Retrieves the number of type information interfaces that an object provides (either 0 or 1).
Invoke	Provides access to properties and methods exposed by an Automation object.

IRepositoryDispatch Method	Description
get_Properties	Retrieves the IreposProperties interface pointer. The IreposProperties interface provides access to the Properties collection.

Properties

Property	Description
Flags	Flags that determine the behavior of this type of collection.
IsOrigin	Indicates whether or not collections of this type are origin collections.
MaxCount	The maximum number of target objects that can be contained in a collection of this type.
MinCount	The minimum number of target objects that must be contained in a collection of this type.

Collections

Collection	Description
CollectionItem	The collection of one relationship type that defines the relationship between target objects of this type of collection and a single source object.