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

 *

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 * 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.

 *

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package com.sun.xml.internal.bind.v2.model.core;

import java.util.List;

import javax.xml.namespace.QName;

/**

 * Property that maps to an element.

 *

 * @author Kohsuke Kawaguchi

 */

// TODO: there seems to be too much interactions between switches, and that's no good.

public interface ElementPropertyInfo<T,C> extends PropertyInfo<T,C> {

    /**

     * Returns the information about the types allowed in this property.

     *

     * <p>

     * In a simple case like the following, an element property only has

     * one {@link TypeRef} that points to {@link String} and tag name "foo".

     * <pre>

     * @XmlElement

     * String abc;

     * </pre>

     *

     * <p>

     * However, in a general case an element property can be heterogeneous,

     * meaning you can put different types in it, each with a different tag name

     * (and a few other settings.)

     * <pre>

     * // list can contain String or Integer.

     * @XmlElements({

     *   @XmlElement(name="a",type=String.class),

     *   @XmlElement(name="b",type=Integer.class),

     * <p>

     * In this case this method returns a list of two {@link TypeRef}s.

     *

     *

     * @return

     *      Always non-null. Contains at least one entry.

     *      If {@link #isValueList()}==true, there's always exactly one type.

     */

    List<? extends TypeRef<T,C>> getTypes();

    /**

     * Gets the wrapper element name.

     *

     * @return

     *      must be null if {@link #isCollection()}==false or

     *      if {@link #isValueList()}==true.

     *

     *      Otherwise,

     *      this can be null (in which case there'll be no wrapper),

     *      or it can be non-null (in which case there'll be a wrapper)

     */

    QName getXmlName();

    /**

     * Checks if the wrapper element is required.

     *

     * @return

     *      Always false if {@link #getXmlName()}==null.

     */

    boolean isCollectionRequired();

    /**

     * Returns true if this property is nillable

     * (meaning the absence of the value is treated as nil='true')

     *

     * <p>

     * This method is only used when this property is a collection.

     */

    boolean isCollectionNillable();

    /**

     * Returns true if this property is a collection but its XML

     * representation is a list of values, not repeated elements.

     *

     * <p>

     * If {@link #isCollection()}==false, this property is always false.

     *

     * <p>

     */

    boolean isValueList();

    /**

     * Returns true if this element is mandatory.

     *

     * For collections, this property isn't used.

     * TODO: define the semantics when this is a collection

     */

    boolean isRequired();

    Adapter<T,C> getAdapter();

}