/*
 * 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.loader.plan.exec.spi;

import org.hibernate.loader.CollectionAliases;

Author:
Steve Ebersole/**
 * @author Steve Ebersole
 */
public interface CollectionReferenceAliases {
	
Obtain the table alias used for the collection table of the CollectionReference.
Returns:
The collection table alias./**
	 * Obtain the table alias used for the collection table of the CollectionReference.
	 *
	 * @return The collection table alias.
	 */
	public String getCollectionTableAlias();

	
Obtain the alias of the table that contains the collection element values.

Unlike in the legacy Loader case, CollectionReferences in the LoadPlan code refer to both the
collection and the elements *always*.  In Loader the elements were handled by EntityPersister associations
entries for one-to-many and many-to-many.  In LoadPlan we need to describe the collection table/columns
as well as the entity element table/columns.  For "basic collections" and one-to-many collections, the
"element table" and the "collection table" are actually the same.  For the many-to-many case this will be
different and we need to track it separately.
Returns:
The element table alias. Only different from getCollectionTableAlias() in the case of many-to-many./**
	 * Obtain the alias of the table that contains the collection element values.
	 * <p/>
	 * Unlike in the legacy Loader case, CollectionReferences in the LoadPlan code refer to both the
	 * collection and the elements *always*.  In Loader the elements were handled by EntityPersister associations
	 * entries for one-to-many and many-to-many.  In LoadPlan we need to describe the collection table/columns
	 * as well as the entity element table/columns.  For "basic collections" and one-to-many collections, the
	 * "element table" and the "collection table" are actually the same.  For the many-to-many case this will be
	 * different and we need to track it separately.
	 *
	 * @return The element table alias.  Only different from {@link #getCollectionTableAlias()} in the case of
	 * many-to-many.
	 */
	public String getElementTableAlias();

	
Obtain the aliases for the columns related to the collection structure such as the FK, index/key, or identifier
(idbag).
Returns:
The collection column aliases./**
	 * Obtain the aliases for the columns related to the collection structure such as the FK, index/key, or identifier
	 * (idbag).
	 *
	 * @return The collection column aliases.
	 */
	public CollectionAliases getCollectionColumnAliases();

	
Obtain the entity reference aliases for the element values when the element of the collection is an entity.
Returns:
The entity reference aliases for the entity element; null if the collection element is not an entity./**
	 * Obtain the entity reference aliases for the element values when the element of the collection is an entity.
	 *
	 * @return The entity reference aliases for the entity element; {@code null} if the collection element is not an entity.
	 */
	public EntityReferenceAliases getEntityElementAliases();
}