/*

 * 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

 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any

 * questions.

 */

package com.sun.javadoc;

import java.text.BreakIterator;

import java.util.Locale;

/**

 * Represents a simple documentation tag, such as @since, @author, @version.

 * Given a tag (e.g. "@since 1.2"), holds tag name (e.g. "@since")

 * and tag text (e.g. "1.2").  Tags with structure or which require

 * special processing are handled by subclasses such as ParamTag

 * (for @param), SeeTag (for @see and {@link}), and ThrowsTag

 * (for @throws).

 *

 * @author Robert Field

 * @author Atul M Dambalkar

 * @see SeeTag

 * @see ParamTag

 * @see ThrowsTag

 * @see SerialFieldTag

 * @see Doc#tags()

 *

 */

public interface Tag {

    /**

     * Return the name of this tag.  The name is the string

     * starting with "@" that is used in a doc comment, such as

     * <code>@return</code>.  For inline tags, such as

     * <code>{&#064;link}</code>, the curly brackets

     * are not part of the name, so in this example the name

     * would be simply <code>@link</code>.

     */

    String name();

    /**

     * Return the containing {@link Doc} of this Tag element.

     */

    Doc holder();

    /**

     * Return the kind of this tag.

     * similar or synonymous tags.  For most tags,

     * <code>kind()&nbsp;==&nbsp;name()</code>;

     * the following table lists those cases where there is more

     * than one tag of a given kind:

     * <p>

     * <table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0">

     * <tr><th><tt> kind()  </th>  <th><tt> name()      </th></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @throws </td>  <td><tt> @throws     </td></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @throws </td>  <td><tt> @exception  </td></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @see    </td>  <td><tt> @see        </td></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @see    </td>  <td><tt> @link       </td></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @see    </td>  <td><tt> @linkplain  </td></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @serial </td>  <td><tt> @serial     </td></tr>

     * <tr><td><tt> @serial </td>  <td><tt> @serialData </td></tr>

     * </table>

     */

    String kind();

    /**

     * Return the text of this tag, that is, portion beyond tag name.

     */

    String text();

    /**

     * Convert this object to a string.

     */

    String toString();

    /**

     * For a documentation comment with embedded <code>{&#064;link}</code>

     * tags, return an array of <code>Tag</code> objects.  The entire

     * doc comment is broken down into strings separated by

     * <code>{&#064;link}</code> tags, where each successive element

     * of the array represents either a string or

     * <code>{&#064;link}</code> tag, in order, from start to end.

     * Each string is represented by a <code>Tag</code> object of

     * name "Text", where {@link #text()} returns the string.  Each

     * <code>{&#064;link}</code> tag is represented by a

     * {@link SeeTag} of name "@link" and kind "@see".

     * For example, given the following comment

     * tag:

     * <p>

     *  <code>This is a {&#064;link Doc commentlabel} example.</code>

     * <p>

     * return an array of Tag objects:

     * <ul>

     *    <li> tags[0] is a {@link Tag} with name "Text" and text consisting

     *         of "This is a "

     *    <li> tags[1] is a {@link SeeTag} with name "@link", referenced

     *         class <code>Doc</code> and label "commentlabel"

     *    <li> tags[2] is a {@link Tag} with name "Text" and text consisting

     *         of " example."

     * </ul>

     *

     * @return Tag[] array of tags

     * @see ParamTag

     * @see ThrowsTag

     */

    Tag[] inlineTags();

    /**

     * Return the first sentence of the comment as an array of tags.

     * Includes inline tags

     * block tags.

     * Each section of plain text is represented as a {@link Tag}

     * of kind "Text".

     * Inline tags are represented as a {@link SeeTag} of kind "@link".

     * If the locale is English language, the first sentence is

     * determined by the rules described in the Java Language

     * Specification (first version): "This sentence ends

     * at the first period that is followed by a blank, tab, or

     * line terminator or at the first tagline.", in

     * addition a line will be terminated by paragraph and

     * section terminating HTML tags: <p>  </p>  <h1>

     * <h2>  <h3> <h4>  <h5>  <h6>

     * <hr>  <pre>  or </pre>.

     * If the locale is not English, the sentence end will be

     * determined by

     * {@link BreakIterator#getSentenceInstance(Locale)}.

     *

     * @return an array of {@link Tag} objects representing the

     *         first sentence of the comment

     */

    Tag[] firstSentenceTags();

    /**

     * Return the source position of this tag.

     * @return the source position of this tag.

     */

    public SourcePosition position();

}