/*
 * Copyright (c) 2008, 2009, 2011 Oracle, Inc. All rights reserved.
 *
 * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
 * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0
 * which accompanies this distribution.  The Eclipse Public License is available
 * at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html and the Eclipse Distribution License
 * is available at http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php.
 */
package javax.persistence;

import java.util.List;

Interface for extracting the elements of a query result tuple.
See Also:
TupleElement
Since:
Java Persistence 2.0/**
 * Interface for extracting the elements of a query result tuple.
 *
 * @see TupleElement
 * @since Java Persistence 2.0
 */
public interface Tuple {
  
Get the value of the specified tuple element.
Params:
tupleElement – tuple element
Type parameters:
<X> –          Type
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if tuple element does not correspond to an element in the query result
                                 tuple
Returns:
value of tuple element/**
   * Get the value of the specified tuple element.
   *
   * @param tupleElement tuple element
   * @param <X>          Type
   * @return value of tuple element
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if tuple element does not correspond to an element in the query result
   *                                  tuple
   */
  <X> X get(TupleElement<X> tupleElement);

  
Get the value of the tuple element to which the specified alias has been assigned.
Params:
alias – alias assigned to tuple element
type –  of the tuple element
Type parameters:
<X> –   Type
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if alias does not correspond to an element in the query result tuple or
                                 element cannot be assigned to the specified type
Returns:
value of the tuple element/**
   * Get the value of the tuple element to which the specified alias has been assigned.
   *
   * @param alias alias assigned to tuple element
   * @param type  of the tuple element
   * @param <X>   Type
   * @return value of the tuple element
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if alias does not correspond to an element in the query result tuple or
   *                                  element cannot be assigned to the specified type
   */
  <X> X get(String alias, Class<X> type);

  
Get the value of the tuple element to which the specified alias has been assigned.
Params:
alias – alias assigned to tuple element
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if alias does not correspond to an element in the query result tuple
Returns:
value of the tuple element/**
   * Get the value of the tuple element to which the specified alias has been assigned.
   *
   * @param alias alias assigned to tuple element
   * @return value of the tuple element
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if alias does not correspond to an element in the query result tuple
   */
  Object get(String alias);

  
Get the value of the element at the specified position in the result tuple. The first position is 0.
Params:
i –    position in result tuple
type – type of the tuple element
Type parameters:
<X> –  Type
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if i exceeds length of result tuple or element cannot be assigned to
                                 the specified type
Returns:
value of the tuple element/**
   * Get the value of the element at the specified position in the result tuple. The first position is 0.
   *
   * @param i    position in result tuple
   * @param type type of the tuple element
   * @param <X>  Type
   * @return value of the tuple element
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if i exceeds length of result tuple or element cannot be assigned to
   *                                  the specified type
   */
  <X> X get(int i, Class<X> type);

  
Get the value of the element at the specified position in the result tuple. The first position is 0.
Params:
i – position in result tuple
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException – if i exceeds length of result tuple
Returns:
value of the tuple element/**
   * Get the value of the element at the specified position in the result tuple. The first position is 0.
   *
   * @param i position in result tuple
   * @return value of the tuple element
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if i exceeds length of result tuple
   */
  Object get(int i);

  
Return the values of the result tuple elements as an array.
Returns:
tuple element values/**
   * Return the values of the result tuple elements as an array.
   *
   * @return tuple element values
   */
  Object[] toArray();

  
Return the tuple elements.
Returns:
tuple elements/**
   * Return the tuple elements.
   *
   * @return tuple elements
   */
  List<TupleElement<?>> getElements();
}