org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.emf.type.core/src/org/eclipse/gmf/runtime/emf/type/core/internal/descriptors/IEditHelperAdviceDescriptor.java

/******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2005, 2006 IBM Corporation and others.
 * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 *
 * Contributors:
 *    IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation 
 ****************************************************************************/

package org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.emf.type.core.internal.descriptors;

import org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.emf.type.core.IContainerDescriptor;
import org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.emf.type.core.IElementMatcher;
import org.eclipse.gmf.runtime.emf.type.core.edithelper.IEditHelperAdvice;

/**
 * Descriptor for edit helper advice. Used to prevent premature loading 
 * of the plugins that define the element matcher, edit helper advice and metamodel
 * descriptor classes.
 * 
 * @author ldamus
 */
public interface IEditHelperAdviceDescriptor {

	/**
	 * Gets the ID of this advice.
	 * 
	 * @return the advice ID
	 */
	public abstract String getId();
	
	/**
	 * Gets the identifier of the element type that this advice is bound to.
	 * 
	 * @return the element type identifier.
	 */
	public abstract String getTypeId();

	/**
	 * Gets the element matcher.
	 * <P>
	 * May cause the plugin defining the matcher class to be loaded.
	 * 
	 * @return the element matcher
	 */
	public abstract IElementMatcher getMatcher();
	
	/**
	 * Gets the container descriptor. May be <code>null</code>.
	 * 
	 * @return the container descriptor
	 */
	public IContainerDescriptor getContainerDescriptor();

	/**
	 * Gets my edit helper advice. The advice can return 'before' or 'after'
	 * editing commands for editing elements of the types that I specialize.
	 * <P>
	 * May cause the plugin defining the matcher class to be loaded.
	 * 
	 * @return the edit helper advice.
	 */
	public abstract IEditHelperAdvice getEditHelperAdvice();

	/**
	 * Indicates the related element types that should inherit this advice.
	 * 
	 * @return the kind of inheritance
	 */
	public abstract AdviceBindingInheritance getInheritance();
}