/*
 * Copyright (C) 2008 Google Inc.
 *
 * 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.google.gson.annotations;

import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

An annotation that indicates this member should be serialized to JSON with
the provided name value as its field name.
This annotation will override any FieldNamingPolicy, including the default field naming policy, that may have been set on the Gson instance. A different naming policy can set using the GsonBuilder class. See GsonBuilder.setFieldNamingPolicy(FieldNamingPolicy) for more information.
Here is an example of how this annotation is meant to be used:
public class MyClass {
  @SerializedName("name") String a;
  @SerializedName(value="name1", alternate={"name2", "name3"}) String b;
  String c;
  public MyClass(String a, String b, String c) {
    this.a = a;
    this.b = b;
    this.c = c;
  }
}

The following shows the output that is generated when serializing an instance of the
above example class:
MyClass target = new MyClass("v1", "v2", "v3");
Gson gson = new Gson();
String json = gson.toJson(target);
System.out.println(json);
===== OUTPUT =====
{"name":"v1","name1":"v2","c":"v3"}

NOTE: The value you specify in this annotation must be a valid JSON field name.
While deserializing, all values specified in the annotation will be deserialized into the field.
For example:
  MyClass target = gson.fromJson("{'name1':'v1'}", MyClass.class);
  assertEquals("v1", target.b);
  target = gson.fromJson("{'name2':'v2'}", MyClass.class);
  assertEquals("v2", target.b);
  target = gson.fromJson("{'name3':'v3'}", MyClass.class);
  assertEquals("v3", target.b);

Note that MyClass.b is now deserialized from either name1, name2 or name3.
Author:
Inderjeet Singh, Joel Leitch
See Also:
FieldNamingPolicy/**
 * An annotation that indicates this member should be serialized to JSON with
 * the provided name value as its field name.
 *
 * <p>This annotation will override any {@link com.google.gson.FieldNamingPolicy}, including
 * the default field naming policy, that may have been set on the {@link com.google.gson.Gson}
 * instance. A different naming policy can set using the {@code GsonBuilder} class. See
 * {@link com.google.gson.GsonBuilder#setFieldNamingPolicy(com.google.gson.FieldNamingPolicy)}
 * for more information.</p>
 *
 * <p>Here is an example of how this annotation is meant to be used:</p>
 * <pre>
 * public class MyClass {
 *   &#64SerializedName("name") String a;
 *   &#64SerializedName(value="name1", alternate={"name2", "name3"}) String b;
 *   String c;
 *
 *   public MyClass(String a, String b, String c) {
 *     this.a = a;
 *     this.b = b;
 *     this.c = c;
 *   }
 * }
 * </pre>
 *
 * <p>The following shows the output that is generated when serializing an instance of the
 * above example class:</p>
 * <pre>
 * MyClass target = new MyClass("v1", "v2", "v3");
 * Gson gson = new Gson();
 * String json = gson.toJson(target);
 * System.out.println(json);
 *
 * ===== OUTPUT =====
 * {"name":"v1","name1":"v2","c":"v3"}
 * </pre>
 *
 * <p>NOTE: The value you specify in this annotation must be a valid JSON field name.</p>
 * While deserializing, all values specified in the annotation will be deserialized into the field.
 * For example:
 * <pre>
 *   MyClass target = gson.fromJson("{'name1':'v1'}", MyClass.class);
 *   assertEquals("v1", target.b);
 *   target = gson.fromJson("{'name2':'v2'}", MyClass.class);
 *   assertEquals("v2", target.b);
 *   target = gson.fromJson("{'name3':'v3'}", MyClass.class);
 *   assertEquals("v3", target.b);
 * </pre>
 * Note that MyClass.b is now deserialized from either name1, name2 or name3.
 *
 * @see com.google.gson.FieldNamingPolicy
 *
 * @author Inderjeet Singh
 * @author Joel Leitch
 */
@Documented
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD})
public @interface SerializedName {

  
Returns:
the desired name of the field when it is serialized or deserialized/**
   * @return the desired name of the field when it is serialized or deserialized
   */
  String value();
  
Returns:
the alternative names of the field when it is deserialized/**
   * @return the alternative names of the field when it is deserialized
   */
  String[] alternate() default {};
}