/*
 * Hibernate, Relational Persistence for Idiomatic Java
 *
 * License: GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 2.1 or later.
 * See the lgpl.txt file in the root directory or <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html>.
 */
package org.hibernate.boot.model.source.spi;

Highly abstract concept of the index of an "indexed persistent collection".
More concretely (and generally more usefully) categorized as either:

    
PluralAttributeSequentialIndexSource - for list/array indexes
    
PluralAttributeMapKeySource - for map keys

/**
 * Highly abstract concept of the index of an "indexed persistent collection".
 * More concretely (and generally more usefully) categorized as either:<ul>
 *     <li>{@link PluralAttributeSequentialIndexSource} - for list/array indexes</li>
 *     <li>{@link PluralAttributeMapKeySource} - for map keys</li>
 * </ul>
 *
 */
public interface PluralAttributeIndexSource {
	PluralAttributeIndexNature getNature();

	
Obtain information about the Hibernate index type (Type) for this plural attribute index. 
Returns:
The Hibernate type information/**
	 * Obtain information about the Hibernate index type ({@link org.hibernate.type.Type})
	 * for this plural attribute index.
	 *
	 * @return The Hibernate type information
	 */
	HibernateTypeSource getTypeInformation();

	String getXmlNodeName();
}