/**
 * <copyright>
 * Copyright (c) 2010-2014 Henshin developers. 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
 * </copyright>
 */
package org.eclipse.emf.henshin.interpreter;

import org.eclipse.emf.henshin.model.Rule;

/**
 * Interface for {@link Rule} applications. 
 * Rule applications are reusable. To reuse an instance
 * you must invoke {@link #setPartialMatch(Match)} or
 * {@link #setCompleteMatch(Match)} or {@link #setRule(Rule)}
 * before every execution. 
 * 
 * @author Enrico Biermann, Christian Krause
 */
public interface RuleApplication extends UnitApplication {

	/**
	 * Get the rule to be applied.
	 * @return The rule to be applied.
	 */
	Rule getRule();

	/**
	 * Set the rule to be applied.
	 * @param rule The rule to be applied.
	 */
	void setRule(Rule rule);

	/**
	 * Get the partial match to be used.
	 * @return The partial match.
	 */
	Match getPartialMatch();

	/**
	 * Set the partial match to be used.
	 * @param partialMatch The partial match (can be <code>null</code>).
	 */
	void setPartialMatch(Match partialMatch);

	/**
	 * Get the complete match to be used.
	 * @return The complete match.
	 */
	Match getCompleteMatch();

	/**
	 * Set the complete match to be used. If it is set to <code>null</code>,
	 * the complete match will be derived from the partial match.
	 * @param completeMatch The complete match (can be <code>null</code>).
	 */
	void setCompleteMatch(Match completeMatch);

	/**
	 * Get the match for the result of the transformation (after the unit has been applied).
	 * @return The match for the result.
	 */
	Match getResultMatch();

}