/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2004, 2005 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.jface.bindings.keys.formatting;

import org.eclipse.jface.bindings.keys.KeySequence;
import org.eclipse.jface.bindings.keys.KeyStroke;

/**
 * <p>
 * Any formatter capable of taking a key sequence or a key stroke and converting
 * it into a string. These formatters are used to produce the strings that the
 * user sees in the keys preference page and the menus, as well as the strings
 * that are used for persistent storage.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @since 3.1
 */
public interface IKeyFormatter {

	/**
	 * Formats an individual key into a human readable format. This uses an
	 * internationalization resource bundle to look up the key. This does not do
	 * any platform-specific formatting (e.g., Carbon's command character).
	 * 
	 * @param key
	 *            The key to format.
	 * @return The key formatted as a string; should not be <code>null</code>.
	 */
	String format(int key);

	/**
	 * Format the given key sequence into a string. The manner of the conversion
	 * is dependent on the formatter. It is required that unequal key sequences
	 * return unequal strings.
	 * 
	 * @param keySequence
	 *            The key sequence to convert; must not be <code>null</code>.
	 * @return A string representation of the key sequence; must not be
	 *         <code>null</code>.
	 */
	String format(KeySequence keySequence);

	/**
	 * Format the given key strokes into a string. The manner of the conversion
	 * is dependent on the formatter. It is required that unequal key strokes
	 * return unequal strings.
	 * 
	 * @param keyStroke
	 *            The key stroke to convert; must not be <Code>null</code>.
	 * @return A string representation of the key stroke; must not be <code>
	 *         null</code>
	 */
	String format(KeyStroke keyStroke);
}