/*
 * 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.persister.walking.spi;

import org.hibernate.type.AnyType;
import org.hibernate.type.Type;

Describes an ANY mapping
Author:
Steve Ebersole/**
 * Describes an ANY mapping
 *
 * @author Steve Ebersole
 */
public interface AnyMappingDefinition {
	
Access to the mapping's AnyType
Returns:
The AnyType/**
	 * Access to the mapping's AnyType
	 *
	 * @return The AnyType
	 */
	public AnyType getType();

	
Was the mapping defined as lazy?
Returns:
true/false/**
	 * Was the mapping defined as lazy?
	 *
	 * @return true/false
	 */
	public boolean isLazy();

	
Access to the type of the value that makes up the identifier portion of the AnyType.
See Also:
AnyMetaDef.idType()
Returns:
The identifier type/**
	 * Access to the type of the value that makes up the identifier portion of the AnyType.
	 *
	 * @return The identifier type
	 *
	 * @see org.hibernate.annotations.AnyMetaDef#idType()
	 */
	public Type getIdentifierType();

	
Access to the type of the value that makes up the discriminator portion of the AnyType.  The discriminator is
historically called the "meta".
 NOTE : If explicit discriminator mappings are given, the type here will be a MetaType. 
See Also:
Any.metaColumn()
AnyMetaDef.metaType()
Returns:
The discriminator type/**
	 * Access to the type of the value that makes up the discriminator portion of the AnyType.  The discriminator is
	 * historically called the "meta".
	 * <p/>
	 * NOTE : If explicit discriminator mappings are given, the type here will be a {@link org.hibernate.type.MetaType}.
	 *
	 * @return The discriminator type
	 *
	 * @see org.hibernate.annotations.Any#metaColumn()
	 * @see org.hibernate.annotations.AnyMetaDef#metaType()
	 */
	public Type getDiscriminatorType();

	
Access to discriminator mappings explicitly defined in the mapping metadata.
There are 2 flavors of discrimination:

    

        The database holds the concrete entity names.  This is an implicit form, meaning that the discriminator
        mappings do not have to be defined in the mapping metadata.  In this case, an empty iterable is returned
        here
    
    
 The database holds discriminator values that are interpreted to corresponding entity names based on discriminator mappings explicitly supplied in the mapping metadata (see AnyMetaDef.metaValues()). In this case, this method gives access to those explicitly defined mappings. 

Returns:
The explicitly defined discriminator value mappings./**
	 * Access to discriminator mappings explicitly defined in the mapping metadata.
	 *
	 * There are 2 flavors of discrimination:<ol>
	 *     <li>
	 *         The database holds the concrete entity names.  This is an implicit form, meaning that the discriminator
	 *         mappings do not have to be defined in the mapping metadata.  In this case, an empty iterable is returned
	 *         here
	 *     </li>
	 *     <li>
	 *         The database holds discriminator values that are interpreted to corresponding entity names based on
	 *         discriminator mappings explicitly supplied in the mapping metadata (see
	 *         {@link org.hibernate.annotations.AnyMetaDef#metaValues()}).  In this case, this method gives access
	 *         to those explicitly defined mappings.
	 *     </li>
	 * </ol>
	 *
	 * @return The explicitly defined discriminator value mappings.
	 */
	public Iterable<DiscriminatorMapping> getMappingDefinedDiscriminatorMappings();

	
Models a single discriminator mapping definition
/**
	 * Models a single discriminator mapping definition
	 */
	public static interface DiscriminatorMapping {
		
Access to the defined discriminator value (the database value) being mapped.
Returns:
The defined discriminator value/**
		 * Access to the defined discriminator value (the database value) being mapped.
		 *
		 * @return The defined discriminator value
		 */
		public Object getDiscriminatorValue();

		
Access to the defined entity name corresponding to the defined getDiscriminatorValue() 
Returns:
The defined entity name/**
		 * Access to the defined entity name corresponding to the defined {@link #getDiscriminatorValue()}
		 *
		 * @return The defined entity name
		 */
		public String getEntityName();
	}
}