/*

 * Copyright (c) 2003, 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA

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 */

package com.sun.javadoc;

/**

 * Represents a value of an annotation type element.

 *

 * @author Scott Seligman

 * @since 1.5

 */

public interface AnnotationValue {

    /**

     * Returns the value.

     * The type of the returned object is one of the following:

     * <ul><li> a wrapper class for a primitive type

     *     <li> {@code String}

     *     <li> {@code Type} (representing a class literal)

     *     <li> {@code FieldDoc} (representing an enum constant)

     *     <li> {@code AnnotationDesc}

     *     <li> {@code AnnotationValue[]}

     * </ul>

     *

     * @return the value.

     */

    Object value();

    /**

     * Returns a string representation of the value.

     *

     * @return the text of a Java language annotation value expression

     *          whose value is the value of this element.

     */

    String toString();

}