/*
 * Copyright (c) 2005, 2015 IBM Corporation, CEA, 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 - initial API and implementation
 *   Christian W. Damus (CEA) - 251963
 *   Kenn Hussey (CEA) - 418466, 451350
 *
 */
package org.eclipse.uml2.uml;

import java.util.Map;

import org.eclipse.emf.common.util.DiagnosticChain;

import org.eclipse.emf.common.util.EList;

import org.eclipse.emf.ecore.EClass;

/**
 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
 * A representation of the model object '<em><b>Information Item</b></em>'.
 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
 *
 * <!-- begin-model-doc -->
 * InformationItems represent many kinds of information that can flow from sources to targets in very abstract ways.  They represent the kinds of information that may move within a system, but do not elaborate details of the transferred information.  Details of transferred information are the province of other Classifiers that may ultimately define InformationItems.  Consequently, InformationItems cannot be instantiated and do not themselves have features, generalizations, or associations. An important use of InformationItems is to represent information during early design stages, possibly before the detailed modeling decisions that will ultimately define them have been made. Another purpose of InformationItems is to abstract portions of complex models in less precise, but perhaps more general and communicable, ways.
 * <p>From package UML::InformationFlows.</p>
 * <!-- end-model-doc -->
 *
 * <p>
 * The following features are supported:
 * </p>
 * <ul>
 *   <li>{@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.InformationItem#getRepresenteds <em>Represented</em>}</li>
 * </ul>
 *
 * @see org.eclipse.uml2.uml.UMLPackage#getInformationItem()
 * @model
 * @generated
 */
public interface InformationItem
		extends Classifier {

	/**
	 * Returns the value of the '<em><b>Represented</b></em>' reference list.
	 * The list contents are of type {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier}.
	 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- begin-model-doc -->
	 * Determines the classifiers that will specify the structure and nature of the information. An information item represents all its represented classifiers.
	 * <p>From package UML::InformationFlows.</p>
	 * <!-- end-model-doc -->
	 * @return the value of the '<em>Represented</em>' reference list.
	 * @see org.eclipse.uml2.uml.UMLPackage#getInformationItem_Represented()
	 * @model ordered="false"
	 * @generated
	 */
	EList<Classifier> getRepresenteds();

	/**
	 * Retrieves the first {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} with the specified '<em><b>Name</b></em>' from the '<em><b>Represented</b></em>' reference list.
	 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
	 * @param name The '<em><b>Name</b></em>' of the {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} to retrieve, or <code>null</code>.
	 * @return The first {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} with the specified '<em><b>Name</b></em>', or <code>null</code>.
	 * @see #getRepresenteds()
	 * @generated
	 */
	Classifier getRepresented(String name);

	/**
	 * Retrieves the first {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} with the specified '<em><b>Name</b></em>' from the '<em><b>Represented</b></em>' reference list.
	 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
	 * @param name The '<em><b>Name</b></em>' of the {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} to retrieve, or <code>null</code>.
	 * @param ignoreCase Whether to ignore case in {@link java.lang.String} comparisons.
	 * @param eClass The Ecore class of the {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} to retrieve, or <code>null</code>.
	 * @return The first {@link org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Classifier} with the specified '<em><b>Name</b></em>', or <code>null</code>.
	 * @see #getRepresenteds()
	 * @generated
	 */
	Classifier getRepresented(String name, boolean ignoreCase, EClass eClass);

	/**
	 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- begin-model-doc -->
	 * The sources and targets of an information item (its related information flows) must designate subsets of the sources and targets of the representation information item, if any. The Classifiers that can realize an information item can only be of the following kind: Class, Interface, InformationItem, Signal, Component.
	 * (self.represented->select(oclIsKindOf(InformationItem))->forAll(p |
	 *   p.conveyingFlow.source->forAll(q | self.conveyingFlow.source->includes(q)) and
	 *     p.conveyingFlow.target->forAll(q | self.conveyingFlow.target->includes(q)))) and
	 *       (self.represented->forAll(oclIsKindOf(Class) or oclIsKindOf(Interface) or
	 *         oclIsKindOf(InformationItem) or oclIsKindOf(Signal) or oclIsKindOf(Component)))
	 * @param diagnostics The chain of diagnostics to which problems are to be appended.
	 * @param context The cache of context-specific information.
	 * <!-- end-model-doc -->
	 * @model
	 * @generated
	 */
	boolean validateSourcesAndTargets(DiagnosticChain diagnostics,
			Map<Object, Object> context);

	/**
	 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- begin-model-doc -->
	 * An informationItem has no feature, no generalization, and no associations.
	 * self.generalization->isEmpty() and self.feature->isEmpty()
	 * @param diagnostics The chain of diagnostics to which problems are to be appended.
	 * @param context The cache of context-specific information.
	 * <!-- end-model-doc -->
	 * @model
	 * @generated
	 */
	boolean validateHasNo(DiagnosticChain diagnostics,
			Map<Object, Object> context);

	/**
	 * <!-- begin-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- end-user-doc -->
	 * <!-- begin-model-doc -->
	 * It is not instantiable.
	 * isAbstract
	 * @param diagnostics The chain of diagnostics to which problems are to be appended.
	 * @param context The cache of context-specific information.
	 * <!-- end-model-doc -->
	 * @model
	 * @generated
	 */
	boolean validateNotInstantiable(DiagnosticChain diagnostics,
			Map<Object, Object> context);

} // InformationItem