/*

 * Copyright (c) 2005, 2012, 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

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

 * questions.

 */

package javax.lang.model.element;

/**

 * Represents a value of an annotation type element.

 * A value is of one of the following types:

 * <ul><li> a wrapper class (such as {@link Integer}) for a primitive type

 *     <li> {@code String}

 *     <li> {@code TypeMirror}

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

 *     <li> {@code AnnotationMirror}

 *     <li> {@code List<? extends AnnotationValue>}

 *              (representing the elements, in declared order, if the value is an array)

 * </ul>

 *

 * @author Joseph D. Darcy

 * @author Scott Seligman

 * @author Peter von der Ahé

 * @since 1.6

 */

public interface AnnotationValue {

    /**

     * Returns the value.

     *

     * @return the value

     */

    Object getValue();

    /**

     * Returns a string representation of this value.

     * This is returned in a form suitable for representing this value

     * in the source code of an annotation.

     *

     * @return a string representation of this value

     */

    String toString();

    /**

     * Applies a visitor to this value.

     *

     * @param <R> the return type of the visitor's methods

     * @param <P> the type of the additional parameter to the visitor's methods

     * @param v   the visitor operating on this value

     * @param p   additional parameter to the visitor

     * @return a visitor-specified result

     */

    <R, P> R accept(AnnotationValueVisitor<R, P> v, P p);

}