debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/core/cdi/model/ICDIVariable.java

/*
 *(c) Copyright QNX Software Systems Ltd. 2002.
 * All Rights Reserved.
 * 
 */

package org.eclipse.cdt.debug.core.cdi.model;

import org.eclipse.cdt.debug.core.cdi.CDIException;

/**
 * 
 * Represents a data structure in the program. Each variable has 
 * a value which may in turn contain more variables.
 * 
 * @since Jul 9, 2002
 */
public interface ICDIVariable extends ICDIVariableObject {


	/**
	 * Returns the value of this variable.
	 * 
	 * @return the value of this variable
	 * @throws CDIException if this method fails.  Reasons include:
	 */
	ICDIValue getValue() throws CDIException;

	/**
	 * Attempts to set the value of this variable to the value of 
	 * the given expression.
	 * 
	 * @param expression - an expression to generate a new value
	 * @throws CDIException if this method fails.  Reasons include:
	 */
	void setValue(String expression) throws CDIException;

	/**
	 * Sets the value of this variable to the given value.
	 * 
	 * @param value - a new value
	 * @throws CDIException if this method fails.  Reasons include:
	 */
	void setValue(ICDIValue value) throws CDIException;
	
	/**
	 * Set the format of the variable.
	 * 
	 * @param format - @see ICDIFormat
	 * @throws CDIException if this method fails.
	 */
	void setFormat(int format) throws CDIException;

}