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 * 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
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package org.apache.commons.beanutils;

A DynaClass is a simulation of the functionality of
java.lang.Class for classes implementing the
DynaBean interface.  DynaBean instances that share the same
DynaClass all have the same set of available properties, along with any
associated data types, read-only states, and write-only states.
Version:
$Id$/**
 * <p>A <strong>DynaClass</strong> is a simulation of the functionality of
 * <code>java.lang.Class</code> for classes implementing the
 * <code>DynaBean</code> interface.  DynaBean instances that share the same
 * DynaClass all have the same set of available properties, along with any
 * associated data types, read-only states, and write-only states.</p>
 *
 * @version $Id$
 */

public interface DynaClass {


    
Return the name of this DynaClass (analogous to the
getName() method of java.lang.ClassDynaClass implementation class to support
different dynamic classes, with different sets of properties.
Returns:
the name of the DynaClass/**
     * Return the name of this DynaClass (analogous to the
     * <code>getName()</code> method of <code>java.lang.Class</code), which
     * allows the same <code>DynaClass</code> implementation class to support
     * different dynamic classes, with different sets of properties.
     *
     * @return the name of the DynaClass
     */
    public String getName();


    
Return a property descriptor for the specified property, if it exists;
otherwise, return null.
Params:
name – Name of the dynamic property for which a descriptor
 is requested
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if no property name is specified
Returns:
The descriptor for the specified property/**
     * Return a property descriptor for the specified property, if it exists;
     * otherwise, return <code>null</code>.
     *
     * @param name Name of the dynamic property for which a descriptor
     *  is requested
     * @return The descriptor for the specified property
     *
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if no property name is specified
     */
    public DynaProperty getDynaProperty(String name);


    
Return an array of ProperyDescriptors for the properties
currently defined in this DynaClass.  If no properties are defined, a
zero-length array will be returned.
FIXME - Should we really be implementing
getBeanInfo() instead, which returns property descriptors
and a bunch of other stuff?
Returns:
the set of properties for this DynaClass/**
     * <p>Return an array of <code>ProperyDescriptors</code> for the properties
     * currently defined in this DynaClass.  If no properties are defined, a
     * zero-length array will be returned.</p>
     *
     * <p><strong>FIXME</strong> - Should we really be implementing
     * <code>getBeanInfo()</code> instead, which returns property descriptors
     * and a bunch of other stuff?</p>
     *
     * @return the set of properties for this DynaClass
     */
    public DynaProperty[] getDynaProperties();


    
Instantiate and return a new DynaBean instance, associated
with this DynaClass.
Throws:
IllegalAccessException – if the Class or the appropriate
 constructor is not accessible
InstantiationException – if this Class represents an abstract
 class, an array class, a primitive type, or void; or if instantiation
 fails for some other reason
Returns:
A new DynaBean instance/**
     * Instantiate and return a new DynaBean instance, associated
     * with this DynaClass.
     *
     * @return A new <code>DynaBean</code> instance
     *
     * @throws IllegalAccessException if the Class or the appropriate
     *  constructor is not accessible
     * @throws InstantiationException if this Class represents an abstract
     *  class, an array class, a primitive type, or void; or if instantiation
     *  fails for some other reason
     */
    public DynaBean newInstance()
            throws IllegalAccessException, InstantiationException;


}