Provided by: libbio-perl-perl_1.7.8-1_all 
NAME
Bio::Ontology::Ontology - standard implementation of an Ontology
SYNOPSIS
use Bio::Ontology::Ontology;
use Bio::Ontology::Term;
# create ontology object
my $ont = Bio::Ontology::Ontology->new(-name => "OBF");
# add terms, relationships ...
my $bp = Bio::Ontology::Term->new(-identifier => '02', -name => "Bioperl");
my $obf = Bio::Ontology::Term->new(-identifier => '01', -name => "OBF");
my $partof = Bio::Ontology::RelationshipType->get_instance("PART_OF");
$ont->add_term($bp);
$ont->add_term($obf);
$ont->add_relationship($bp, $obf, $partof);
# then query
my @terms = $ont->get_root_terms(); # "OBF"
my @desc = $ont->get_descendant_terms($terms[0], $partof); # "Bioperl"
# ... see methods for other ways to query
# for advanced users, you can re-use the query engine outside of an
# ontology to let one instance manage multiple ontologies
my $ont2 = Bio::Ontology::Ontology->new(-name => "Foundations",
-engine => $ont->engine());
DESCRIPTION
This is a no-frills implementation of Bio::Ontology::OntologyI.
The query functions are implemented by delegation to an OntologyEngineI implementation.
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 the Bioperl mailing list. 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 of the bugs and their
resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via the web:
https://github.com/bioperl/bioperl-live/issues
AUTHOR - Hilmar Lapp
Email hlapp at gmx.net
APPENDIX
The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are
usually preceded with a _
new
Title : new
Usage : my $obj = Bio::Ontology::Ontology->new();
Function: Builds a new Bio::Ontology::Ontology object
Returns : an instance of Bio::Ontology::Ontology
Args : any number of named arguments. The following names will be
recognized by this module:
-name the name of the ontology
-authority the name of the authority for the ontology
-identifier an identifier for the ontology, if any
-engine the Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI
implementation that this instance should use;
default is Bio::Ontology::SimpleOntologyEngine
See the corresponding get/set methods for further documentation
on individual properties.
Methods from Bio::Ontology::OntologyI
name
Title : name
Usage : $obj->name($newval)
Function: Get/set the name of the ontology.
Example :
Returns : value of name (a scalar)
Args : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)
authority
Title : authority
Usage : $obj->authority($newval)
Function: Get/set the authority for this ontology, for instance the
DNS base for the organization granting the name of the
ontology and identifiers for the terms.
This attribute is optional and should not generally
expected by applications to have been set. It is here to
follow the rules for namespaces, which ontologies serve as
for terms.
Example :
Returns : value of authority (a scalar)
Args : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)
definition
Title : definition
Usage : $obj->definition($newval)
Function: Get/set a descriptive definition of the ontology.
Example :
Returns : value of definition (a scalar)
Args : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)
identifier
Title : identifier
Usage : $id = $obj->identifier()
Function: Get an identifier for this ontology.
This is primarily intended for look-up purposes. The value
is not modifiable and is determined automatically by the
implementation. Also, the identifier's uniqueness will only
hold within the scope of a particular application's run
time since it is derived from a memory location.
Example :
Returns : value of identifier (a scalar)
Args :
close
Title : close
Usage :
Function: Release any resources this ontology may occupy. In order
to efficiently release unused memory or file handles, you
should call this method once you are finished with an
ontology.
Example :
Returns : TRUE on success and FALSE otherwise
Args : none
Implementation-specific public methods
engine
Title : engine
Usage : $engine = $obj->engine()
Function: Get/set the ontology engine to which all the query methods
delegate.
Example :
Returns : an object implementing Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI
Args : on set, new value (an object implementing
Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI, or undef)
See Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI.
Methods defined in Bio::Ontology::OntologyEngineI
add_term
Title : add_term
Usage : add_term(TermI term): TermI
Function: Adds TermI object to the ontology engine term store
If the ontology property of the term object was not set,
this implementation will set it to itself upon adding the
term.
Example : $oe->add_term($term)
Returns : its argument.
Args : object of class TermI.
add_relationship
Title : add_relationship
Usage : add_relationship(RelationshipI relationship): RelationshipI
add_relatioship(TermI subject, TermI predicate, TermI object)
Function: Adds a relationship object to the ontology engine.
Example :
Returns : Its argument.
Args : A RelationshipI object.
get_relationship_type
Title : get_relationship_type
Usage : get_relationship_type(scalar): RelationshipTypeI
Function: Get a relationshiptype object from the ontology engine.
Example :
Returns : A RelationshipTypeI object.
Args : The name (scalar) of the RelationshipTypeI object desired.
get_relationships
Title : get_relationships
Usage : get_relationships(TermI term): RelationshipI[]
Function: Retrieves all relationship objects in the ontology, or all
relationships of a given term.
Example :
Returns : Array of Bio::Ontology::RelationshipI objects
Args : Optionally, a Bio::Ontology::TermI compliant object
get_predicate_terms
Title : get_predicate_terms
Usage : get_predicate_terms(): TermI
Function: Retrieves all relationship types.
Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects
Args :
get_child_terms
Title : get_child_terms
Usage : get_child_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermI
Function: Retrieves all child terms of a given term, that satisfy a
relationship among those that are specified in the second
argument or undef otherwise. get_child_terms is a special
case of get_descendant_terms, limiting the search to the
direct descendants.
Note that a returned term may possibly be in another
ontology than this one, because the underlying engine may
manage multiple ontologies and the relationships of terms
between them. If you only want descendants within this
ontology, you need to filter the returned array.
Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
of relationship type terms.
get_descendant_terms
Title : get_descendant_terms
Usage : get_descendant_terms(TermI term, TermI rel_types): TermI
Function: Retrieves all descendant terms of a given term, that
satisfy a relationship among those that are specified in
the second argument or undef otherwise.
Note that a returned term may possibly be in another
ontology than this one, because the underlying engine may
manage multiple ontologies and the relationships of terms
between them. If you only want descendants within this
ontology, you need to filter the returned array.
Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
of relationship type terms.
get_parent_terms
Title : get_parent_terms
Usage : get_parent_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermI
Function: Retrieves all parent terms of a given term, that satisfy a
relationship among those that are specified in the second
argument or undef otherwise. get_parent_terms is a special
case of get_ancestor_terms, limiting the search to the
direct ancestors.
Note that a returned term may possibly be in another
ontology than this one, because the underlying engine may
manage multiple ontologies and the relationships of terms
between them. If you only want descendants within this
ontology, you need to filter the returned array.
Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
of relationship type terms.
get_ancestor_terms
Title : get_ancestor_terms
Usage : get_ancestor_terms(TermI term, TermI predicate_terms): TermI
Function: Retrieves all ancestor terms of a given term, that satisfy
a relationship among those that are specified in the second
argument or undef otherwise.
Note that a returned term may possibly be in another
ontology than this one, because the underlying engine may
manage multiple ontologies and the relationships of terms
between them. If you only want descendants within this
ontology, you need to filter the returned array.
Example :
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args : First argument is the term of interest, second is the list
of relationship type terms.
get_leaf_terms
Title : get_leaf_terms
Usage : get_leaf_terms(): TermI
Function: Retrieves all leaf terms from the ontology. Leaf term is a
term w/o descendants.
Example : @leaf_terms = $obj->get_leaf_terms()
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args :
get_root_terms()
Title : get_root_terms
Usage : get_root_terms(): TermI
Function: Retrieves all root terms from the ontology. Root term is a
term w/o parents.
Example : @root_terms = $obj->get_root_terms()
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args :
get_all_terms
Title : get_all_terms
Usage : get_all_terms: TermI
Function: Retrieves all terms from the ontology.
We do not mandate an order here in which the terms are
returned. In fact, the default implementation will return
them in unpredictable order.
Example : @terms = $obj->get_all_terms()
Returns : Array of TermI objects.
Args :
find_terms
Title : find_terms
Usage : ($term) = $oe->find_terms(-identifier => "SO:0000263");
Function: Find term instances matching queries for their attributes.
An implementation may not support querying for arbitrary
attributes, but can generally be expected to accept
-identifier and -name as queries. If both are provided,
they are implicitly intersected.
Example :
Returns : an array of zero or more Bio::Ontology::TermI objects
Args : Named parameters. The following parameters should be recognized
by any implementations:
-identifier query by the given identifier
-name query by the given name
find_identical_terms
Title : find_identical_terms
Usage : ($term) = $oe->find_identical_terms($term0);
Function: Find term instances where name or synonym
matches the query exactly
Example :
Returns : an array of zero or more Bio::Ontology::TermI objects
Args : a Bio::Ontology::TermI object
find_similar_terms
Title : find_similar_terms
Usage : ($term) = $oe->find_similar_terms($term0);
Function: Find term instances where name or synonym, or part of one,
matches the query.
Example :
Returns : an array of zero or more Bio::Ontology::TermI objects
Args : a Bio::Ontology::TermI object
find_identically_named_terms
Title : find_identically_named_terms
Usage : ($term) = $oe->find_identically_named_terms($term0);
Function: Find term instances where names match the query term
name exactly
Example :
Returns : an array of zero or more Bio::Ontology::TermI objects
Args : a Bio::Ontology::TermI object
Factory for relationships and terms
relationship_factory
Title : relationship_factory
Usage : $fact = $obj->relationship_factory()
Function: Get (and set, if the engine supports it) the object
factory to be used when relationship objects are created by
the implementation on-the-fly.
Example :
Returns : value of relationship_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryI
compliant object)
Args :
term_factory
Title : term_factory
Usage : $fact = $obj->term_factory()
Function: Get (and set, if the engine supports it) the object
factory to be used when term objects are created by
the implementation on-the-fly.
Example :
Returns : value of term_factory (a Bio::Factory::ObjectFactoryI
compliant object)
Args :
annotation
Title : annotation
Usage : $annos = $obj->annotation()
Function: Get/Set the Bio::Annotation::Collection object
The collection contains Bio::Annotation::SimpleValue
objects to store header information like the version
and date present in the header section of an Ontology
file.
Example :
Returns : value of annotation (a Bio::Annotation::Collection
compliant object)
Args : A Bio::Annotation::Collection object (Optional)