/*
 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
 * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
 * The ASF licenses this file to You 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 org.apache.commons.beanutils;


A DynaBean is a Java object that supports properties
whose names and data types, as well as values, may be dynamically modified.
To the maximum degree feasible, other components of the BeanUtils package
will recognize such beans and treat them as standard JavaBeans for the
purpose of retrieving and setting property values.
Version:
$Id$/**
 * <p>A <strong>DynaBean</strong> is a Java object that supports properties
 * whose names and data types, as well as values, may be dynamically modified.
 * To the maximum degree feasible, other components of the BeanUtils package
 * will recognize such beans and treat them as standard JavaBeans for the
 * purpose of retrieving and setting property values.</p>
 *
 * @version $Id$
 */

public interface DynaBean {


    
Does the specified mapped property contain a value for the specified
key value?
Params:
name – Name of the property to check
key – Name of the key to check
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
Returns:
true if the mapped property contains a value for
the specified key, otherwise false/**
     * Does the specified mapped property contain a value for the specified
     * key value?
     *
     * @param name Name of the property to check
     * @param key Name of the key to check
     * @return <code>true<code> if the mapped property contains a value for
     * the specified key, otherwise <code>false</code>
     *
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     */
    public boolean contains(String name, String key);


    
Return the value of a simple property with the specified name.
Params:
name – Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
Returns:
The property's value/**
     * Return the value of a simple property with the specified name.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved
     * @return The property's value
     *
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     */
    public Object get(String name);


    
Return the value of an indexed property with the specified name.
Params:
name – Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved
index – Index of the value to be retrieved
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
IllegalArgumentException – if the specified property
 exists, but is not indexed
IndexOutOfBoundsException – if the specified index
 is outside the range of the underlying property
NullPointerException – if no array or List has been
 initialized for this property
Returns:
The indexed property's value/**
     * Return the value of an indexed property with the specified name.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved
     * @param index Index of the value to be retrieved
     * @return The indexed property's value
     *
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the specified property
     *  exists, but is not indexed
     * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException if the specified index
     *  is outside the range of the underlying property
     * @throws NullPointerException if no array or List has been
     *  initialized for this property
     */
    public Object get(String name, int index);


    
Return the value of a mapped property with the specified name,
or null if there is no value for the specified key.
Params:
name – Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved
key – Key of the value to be retrieved
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
IllegalArgumentException – if the specified property
 exists, but is not mapped
Returns:
The mapped property's value/**
     * Return the value of a mapped property with the specified name,
     * or <code>null</code> if there is no value for the specified key.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved
     * @param key Key of the value to be retrieved
     * @return The mapped property's value
     *
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the specified property
     *  exists, but is not mapped
     */
    public Object get(String name, String key);


    
Return the DynaClass instance that describes the set of
properties available for this DynaBean.
Returns:
The associated DynaClass/**
     * Return the <code>DynaClass</code> instance that describes the set of
     * properties available for this DynaBean.
     *
     * @return The associated DynaClass
     */
    public DynaClass getDynaClass();


    
Remove any existing value for the specified key on the
specified mapped property.
Params:
name – Name of the property for which a value is to
 be removed
key – Key of the value to be removed
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name/**
     * Remove any existing value for the specified key on the
     * specified mapped property.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property for which a value is to
     *  be removed
     * @param key Key of the value to be removed
     *
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     */
    public void remove(String name, String key);


    
Set the value of a simple property with the specified name.
Params:
name – Name of the property whose value is to be set
value – Value to which this property is to be set
Throws:
ConversionException – if the specified value cannot be
 converted to the type required for this property
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
NullPointerException – if an attempt is made to set a
 primitive property to null/**
     * Set the value of a simple property with the specified name.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property whose value is to be set
     * @param value Value to which this property is to be set
     *
     * @throws ConversionException if the specified value cannot be
     *  converted to the type required for this property
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     * @throws NullPointerException if an attempt is made to set a
     *  primitive property to null
     */
    public void set(String name, Object value);


    
Set the value of an indexed property with the specified name.
Params:
name – Name of the property whose value is to be set
index – Index of the property to be set
value – Value to which this property is to be set
Throws:
ConversionException – if the specified value cannot be
 converted to the type required for this property
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
IllegalArgumentException – if the specified property
 exists, but is not indexed
IndexOutOfBoundsException – if the specified index
 is outside the range of the underlying property/**
     * Set the value of an indexed property with the specified name.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property whose value is to be set
     * @param index Index of the property to be set
     * @param value Value to which this property is to be set
     *
     * @throws ConversionException if the specified value cannot be
     *  converted to the type required for this property
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the specified property
     *  exists, but is not indexed
     * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException if the specified index
     *  is outside the range of the underlying property
     */
    public void set(String name, int index, Object value);


    
Set the value of a mapped property with the specified name.
Params:
name – Name of the property whose value is to be set
key – Key of the property to be set
value – Value to which this property is to be set
Throws:
ConversionException – if the specified value cannot be
 converted to the type required for this property
IllegalArgumentException – if there is no property
 of the specified name
IllegalArgumentException – if the specified property
 exists, but is not mapped/**
     * Set the value of a mapped property with the specified name.
     *
     * @param name Name of the property whose value is to be set
     * @param key Key of the property to be set
     * @param value Value to which this property is to be set
     *
     * @throws ConversionException if the specified value cannot be
     *  converted to the type required for this property
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if there is no property
     *  of the specified name
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the specified property
     *  exists, but is not mapped
     */
    public void set(String name, String key, Object value);


}