Copyright (c) 2008 - 2013 Oracle Corporation. 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.
Contributors:
    Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.1
    Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.0
/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2008 - 2013 Oracle Corporation. 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.
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.1
 *     Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.0
 *
 ******************************************************************************/ 
package javax.persistence.metamodel;

Represents an attribute of a Java type.
Type parameters:
<X> – The represented type that contains the attribute
<Y> – The type of the represented attribute
Since:
Java Persistence 2.0/**
 * Represents an attribute of a Java type.
 *
 * @param <X> The represented type that contains the attribute
 * @param <Y> The type of the represented attribute
 *
 * @since Java Persistence 2.0
 */
public interface Attribute<X, Y> {

	public static enum PersistentAttributeType {
	    
	     
Many-to-one association /** Many-to-one association */
	     MANY_TO_ONE, 

     	 
One-to-one association /** One-to-one association */
	     ONE_TO_ONE, 
	     
	     
Basic attribute /** Basic attribute */
	     BASIC, 

	     
Embeddable class attribute /** Embeddable class attribute */
	     EMBEDDED,

	     
Many-to-many association /** Many-to-many association */
	     MANY_TO_MANY, 

	     
One-to-many association /** One-to-many association */
	     ONE_TO_MANY, 

	     
Element collection /** Element collection */
	     ELEMENT_COLLECTION
	}

    
Return the name of the attribute.
Returns:
name/**
     * Return the name of the attribute.
     * @return name
     */
    String getName();

    
 Return the persistent attribute type for the attribute.
 @return persistent attribute type
/**
     *  Return the persistent attribute type for the attribute.
     *  @return persistent attribute type
     */
    PersistentAttributeType getPersistentAttributeType();

    
 Return the managed type representing the type in which 
 the attribute was declared.
 @return declaring type
/**
     *  Return the managed type representing the type in which 
     *  the attribute was declared.
     *  @return declaring type
     */
    ManagedType<X> getDeclaringType();

    
 Return the Java type of the represented attribute.
 @return Java type
/**
     *  Return the Java type of the represented attribute.
     *  @return Java type
     */
    Class<Y> getJavaType();

    
 Return the java.lang.reflect.Member for the represented 
 attribute.
 @return corresponding java.lang.reflect.Member
/**
     *  Return the <code>java.lang.reflect.Member</code> for the represented 
     *  attribute.
     *  @return corresponding <code>java.lang.reflect.Member</code>
     */
    java.lang.reflect.Member getJavaMember();

    
 Is the attribute an association.
 @return boolean indicating whether the attribute 
         corresponds to an association
/**
     *  Is the attribute an association.
     *  @return boolean indicating whether the attribute 
     *          corresponds to an association
     */
    boolean isAssociation();

    
 Is the attribute collection-valued (represents a Collection,
 Set, List, or Map).
 @return boolean indicating whether the attribute is 
         collection-valued
/**
     *  Is the attribute collection-valued (represents a Collection,
     *  Set, List, or Map).
     *  @return boolean indicating whether the attribute is 
     *          collection-valued
     */
    boolean isCollection();
}