/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2000, 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.ui.views.markers.internal;

import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Image;

/**
 * IField is the definition of fields for marker views.
 *
 */
public interface IField {

    /**
     * @return String the description of the field.
     */
    String getDescription();

    /**
     * @return the image associated with the description of the field or <code>null<code>.
     */
    Image getDescriptionImage();

    /**
     * @return The text to be displayed in the column header for this field.
     */
    String getColumnHeaderText();

    /**
     * @return The image to be displayed in the column header for this field or <code>null<code>.
     */
    Image getColumnHeaderImage();

    /**
     * @param obj
     * @return The String value of the object for this particular field to be displayed to the user.  
     */
    String getValue(Object obj);

    /**
     * @param obj
     * @return The image value of the object for this particular field to be displayed to the user
     * or <code>null<code>.
     */
    Image getImage(Object obj);

    /**
     * @param obj1
     * @param obj2
     * @return Either:
     * 	<li>a negative number if the value of obj1 is less than the value of obj2 for this field.
     *  <li><code>0</code> if the value of obj1 and the value of obj2 are equal for this field.
     *  <li>a positive number if the value of obj1 is greater than the value of obj2 for this field.
     */
    int compare(Object obj1, Object obj2);
    
    /**
     * Get the default direction for the receiver. Return either 
     * {@link TableComparator#ASCENDING } or {@link TableComparator#DESCENDING }
     * @return int
     */
   int getDefaultDirection();
   
   /**
    * Get the preferred width of the receiver.
    * @return int
    */
   int getPreferredWidth();

   /**
    * Return whether not the receiver is showing.
    * @return boolean
    */
   boolean isShowing();
   
   /**
    * Set whether or not the receiver is showing.
    * @param showing
    */
  void setShowing(boolean showing);
   
 
}