content: /*
   * MethodPart.java April 2007
   *
   * Copyright (C) 2007, Niall Gallagher <niallg@users.sf.net>
   *
   * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   * You may obtain a copy of the License at
   *
   *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
   *
   * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or 
   * implied. See the License for the specific language governing 
   * permissions and limitations under the License.
   */
  
  package com.aliyun.odps.simpleframework.xml.core;
  
  import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
  import java.lang.reflect.Method;
  
  /**
   * The <code>MethodPart</code> interface is used to provide a point 
   * of contact with an object. Typically this will be used to get a
   * method from an object which is contains an XML annotation. This
   * provides the type the method is associated with, this type is
   * either the method return type or the single value parameter.
   * 
   * @author Niall Gallagher
   */ 
  interface MethodPart {
  
     /**
      * This provides the name of the method part as acquired from the
      * method name. The name represents the Java Bean property name
      * of the method and is used to pair getter and setter methods.
      * 
      * @return this returns the Java Bean name of the method part
      */
     String getName(); 
     
     /**
      * This is the annotation associated with the point of contact.
      * This will be an XML annotation that describes how the contact
      * should be serializaed and deserialized from the object.
      *
      * @return this provides the annotation associated with this
      */
     Annotation getAnnotation();
     
     /**
      * This is the annotation associated with the point of contact.
      * This will be an XML annotation that describes how the contact
      * should be serialized and deserialized from the object.
      * 
      * @param type this is the type of the annotation to acquire
      *
      * @return this provides the annotation associated with this
      */
     <T extends Annotation> T getAnnotation(Class<T> type);
     
     /**
      * This will provide the contact type. The contact type is the
      * class that is either the method return type or the single
      * value parameter type associated with the method.
      *
      * @return this returns the type that this contact represents
      */ 
     Class getType();
     
     /**
      * This is used to acquire the dependent class for the method 
      * part. The dependent type is the type that represents the 
      * generic type of the type. This is used when collections are
      * annotated as it allows a default entry class to be taken
      * from the generic information provided.
      * 
      * @return this returns the generic dependent for the type
      */
     Class getDependent();
     
     /**
      * This is used to acquire the dependent classes for the method 
      * part. The dependent types are the types that represent the 
      * generic types of the type. This is used when collections are 
      * annotated as it allows a default entry class to be taken
      * from the generic information provided.
      * 
      * @return this returns the generic dependent for the type
      */
     Class[] getDependents();
     
     /**
      * This is the class that declares the contact. The declaring
      * class is where the method represented has been defined. This
      * will typically be a class rather than an interface.
      * 
      * @return this returns the class the part is declared within
      */
     Class getDeclaringClass();
     
     /**
      * This is the method for this point of contact. This is what
      * will be invoked by the serialization or deserialization 
      * process when an XML element or attribute is to be used.
      * 
      * @return this returns the method associated with this
      */
     Method getMethod();
     
     /**
      * This is the method type for the method part. This is used in
      * the scanning process to determine which type of method a
      * instance represents, this allows set and get methods to be
      * paired.
      * 
      * @return the method type that this part represents
      */
     MethodType getMethodType();
     
     /**
      * This is used to describe the method as it exists within the
      * owning class. This is used to provide error messages that can
      * be used to debug issues that occur when processing a method.
      * This should return the method as a generic representation.  
      * 
      * @return this returns a string representation of the method
      */
     String toString();
  }