/*******************************************************************************
 *  Copyright (c) 2011  Oracle. 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: 
 *  	Oracle - initial API and implementation
 *******************************************************************************/
package org.eclipse.jpt.jaxb.core.context;

import org.eclipse.jpt.jaxb.core.context.java.JavaContextNode;
import org.eclipse.jpt.jaxb.core.resource.java.JavaResourceAttribute;
import org.eclipse.jpt.jaxb.core.resource.java.JavaResourceField;
import org.eclipse.jpt.jaxb.core.resource.java.JavaResourceMethod;

/**
 * Represents a JAXB attribute (field/property).
 * <p>
 * Provisional API: This interface is part of an interim API that is still
 * under development and expected to change significantly before reaching
 * stability. It is available at this early stage to solicit feedback from
 * pioneering adopters on the understanding that any code that uses this API
 * will almost certainly be broken (repeatedly) as the API evolves.
 * 
 * @version 3.0
 * @since 3.0
 */
public interface JaxbPersistentAttribute
		extends JavaContextNode {


	JaxbPersistentClass getParent();

	/**
	 * Return true if this JaxbPersistentAttribute is inherited from one of the
	 * superclasses of the parent JaxbPersistentClass.
	 */
	boolean isInherited();

	/**
	 * Only ask this of inherited persistent attributes. Returns the simple
	 * type name of the attribute's resource type.
	 * 
	 * @see JaxbPersistentAttribute#isInherited()
	 */
	String getInheritedJavaResourceAttributeOwningTypeName();

	// ********** name **********

	/**
	 * Return the name of the attribute. This will not change, a
	 * new JaxbPersistentAttribute will be built if the name changes.
	 */
	String getName();

	boolean isFor(JavaResourceField resourceField);

	boolean isFor(JavaResourceMethod resourceGetter, JavaResourceMethod resourceSetter);

	JavaResourceAttribute getJavaResourceAttribute();

	/**
	 * Return the type name of the java resource attribute
	 * This might not return the same thing as getJavaResourceAttribute().getTypeName().
	 */
	String getJavaResourceAttributeTypeName();

	/**
	 * Return whether the java resource attribute type is an array
	 * This might not return the same thing as getJavaResourceAttribute().typeIsArray().
	 */
	boolean isJavaResourceAttributeTypeArray();

	/**
	 * Return whether the java resource attribute type is a subtype of the given type
	 * This might not return the same thing as getJavaResourceAttribute().typeIsSubTypeOf(String).
	 */
	boolean isJavaResourceAttributeTypeSubTypeOf(String typeName);

	// ********** mapping **********

	/**
	 * Return the attribute's mapping. This is never <code>null</code>
	 * (although, it may be a <em>null</em> mapping).
	 * Set the mapping via {@link PersistentAttribute#setMappingKey(String)}.
	 */
	JaxbAttributeMapping getMapping();
		String MAPPING_PROPERTY = "mapping"; //$NON-NLS-1$

	/**
	 * Return the attribute's mapping key.
	 */
	String getMappingKey();

	/**
	 * Set the attribute's mapping.
	 * If the specified key is <code>null</code>, clear the specified mapping,
	 * allowing the attribute's mapping to default (if appropriate).
	 * Return the new mapping (which may be a <em>null</em> mapping).
	 */
	JaxbAttributeMapping setMappingKey(String key);

	/**
	 * Return the key for the attribute's default mapping.
	 * This can be <code>null</code> (e.g. for <em>specified</em>
	 * <code>orm.xml</code> attributes).
	 * @see JaxbAttributeMapping#isDefault()
	 */
	String getDefaultMappingKey();
		String DEFAULT_MAPPING_KEY_PROPERTY = "defaultMappingKey"; //$NON-NLS-1$
}