zcommon/src/main/java/org/zkoss/idom/Group.java

Summary

Maintainability
A
0 mins
Test Coverage
/* Group.java


    Purpose: 
    Description: 
    History:
    2001/10/23 23:50:54, Create, Tom M. Yeh.

Copyright (C) 2001 Potix Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

{{IS_RIGHT
    This program is distributed under LGPL Version 2.1 in the hope that
    it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.
}}IS_RIGHT
*/
package org.zkoss.idom;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;

/**
 * Represents an item might have children. Group is also a item.
 * Developers usually extend new classes from 
 * {@link org.zkoss.idom.impl.AbstractGroup}, rather than
 * implement this interface directly.
 *
 * <p>Design consideration: we don't support removeChildren and setChild
 * or alike, because they can be done easily with List's methods and
 * getAttributeIndex.
 *
 * @author tomyeh
 * @see Item
 * @see Attributable
 * @see Namespaceable
 * @see Binable
 */
public interface Group extends Item {
    /**
     * Gets all children.
     *
     * <p>The returned list is "live". Any modification to it affects
     * the node. On the other hand, {@link #getElements(String)} returns
     * a copy.
     *
     * <p>Unlike JDOM, it won't coalesce adjacent children automatically
     * since it might violate the caller's expectation about List.
     * Rather, we provide coalesce to let caller do the merging
     * explicitly.
     * Note: when building a iDOM tree from a source
     * (SAXBuilder.build), coalesce() will be invoked automatically.
     *
     * <p>Note: not all items supports children. If this item doesn't,
     * it returns an empty list. And, if any invocation tries to add
     * vertices to the returned list will cause UnsupportOperationException.
     */
    public List<Item> getChildren();

    /** Detaches all children and returns them in a list.
     *
     * <p>Note: you cannot add children to anther Group by doing
     * <code>group.addAll(e.getChildren())</code>, because you have to detach
     * them first. Then, you could use this method:<br>
     * <code>group.addAll(e.detachChildren());</code>
     */
    public List<Item> detachChildren();

    /**
     * Coalesces children if they are siblings with the same type
     * instances of Textual, Textual.isCoalesceable returns true.
     *
     * <p>SAXBuilder.build will do the merging automatically.
     *
     * @param recursive true to coalesce all descendants;
     * false to coalesce only the direct children
     */
    public int coalesce(boolean recursive);

    /**
     * Gets the index of the Element-type first child that match the specified
     * criteria.
     *
     * <p>Note: only Element-type children are returned, since others
     * have no name.
     *
     * @param indexFrom the index to start searching from; 0 for beginning
     * @param namespace the namespace URI if FIND_BY_PREFIX is not specified;
     * the namespace prefix if FIND_BY_PREFIX specified; null to ignore
     * @param name the local name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME is not specified;
     * the tag name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME specified; null to ignore
     * @param mode the search mode; zero or any combination of
     * Item.FIND_xxx, except FIND_RECURSIVE
     * @return the index if found; -1 if not found
     */
    public int
    getElementIndex(int indexFrom, String namespace, String name, int mode);
    /**
     * Gets the index of the first Element-type child with the specified name.
     *
     * <p>Note: only Element-type children are returned, since others
     * have no name.
     *
     * <p><code><pre>getChildren().add(getElementIndex(0, "pre:name"),
     *    new Element("pre:another"));</pre></code>
     *
     * @param indexFrom the index to start searching from; 0 for beginning
     * @param tname the tag name (i.e., Namespaceable.getName)
     * @return the index if found; -1 if not found
     */
    public int getElementIndex(int indexFrom, String tname);

    /**
     * Gets the value of the first Element-type child that matches
     * the giving criteria, with a trimming option.
     *
     * @param namespace the namespace URI if FIND_BY_PREFIX is not specified;
     * the namespace prefix if FIND_BY_PREFIX specified; null to ignore
     * @param name the local name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME is not specified;
     * the tag name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME specified; null to ignore
     * @return the value of the first Element-type child ; null if not found
     */
    public String
    getElementValue(String namespace, String name, int mode, boolean trim);
    /**
     * Gets the text of the first Element-type child with the tag name,
     * with a trimming option.
     *
     * @param tname the tag name (i.e., Namespaceable.getName)
     * @return the text of the first Element-type child with
     * the tag name; null if not found
     */
    public String getElementValue(String tname, boolean trim);

    /**
     * Gets the first Element-type child that matches the giving criteria.
     *
     * <p>Note: only Element-type children are returned. Depending on
     * the mode, the searching is usually linear -- take O(n) to complete.
     *
     * @param namespace the namespace URI if FIND_BY_PREFIX is not specified;
     * the namespace prefix if FIND_BY_PREFIX specified; null to ignore
     * @param name the local name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME is not specified;
     * the tag name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME specified; null to ignore
     * @param mode the search mode; zero or any combination of FIND_xxx.
     * @return the found element; null if not found or not supported
     */
    public Element getElement(String namespace, String name, int mode);
    /**
     * Gets the first Element-type child with the tag name.
     * It is the same as childOf(nsURI, lname, null, 0).
     *
     * <p>Note: only Element-type children are returned. Also, we did some
     * optimization for this method so its access time is nearly constant.
     *
     * @param tname the tag name (i.e., Namespaceable.getName)
     * @return the found element; null if not found or not supported
     */
    public Element getElement(String tname);

    /**
     * Gets a readonly list of Element-type children that match the giving
     * criteria.
     *
     * <p>Unlike {@link Element#getElementsByTagName}, this method only
     * returns child elements, excluding grand children and other descendants.
     *
     * <p>The returned list is a 'live-facade' of the real ones, so
     * the performance is good, and any modification to {@link #getChildren}
     * will affect it.
     *
     * <p>Note: only Element-type children are returned. Depending on
     * the mode, the searching is usually linear -- take O(n) to complete.
     *
     * @param namespace the namespace URI if FIND_BY_PREFIX is not specified;
     * the namespace prefix if FIND_BY_PREFIX specified; null to ignore
     * @param name the local name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME is not specified;
     * the tag name if FIND_BY_TAGNAME specified; null to ignore
     * @param mode the search mode; zero or any combination of FIND_xxx.
     * @return a read-only list containing all matched children;
     * an empty list if not found or not supported
     */
    public List<Element> getElements(String namespace, String name, int mode);
    /**
     * Gets a readonly list of children with the tag name.
     *
     * <p>Unlike {@link Element#getElementsByTagName}, this method only
     * returns child elements, excluding grand children and other descendants.
     *
     * <p>The returned list is a 'live-facade' of the real ones, so
     * the performance is good, and any modification to {@link #getChildren}
     * will affect it.
     *
     * <p>Note: only Element-type children are returned. Also, we did some
     * optimization for this method so its access time is nearly constant.
     *
     * @param tname the tag name (i.e., Namespaceable.getName)
     */
    public List<Element> getElements(String tname);

    /** Returns a readonly set of names of element children. 
     * Then, you could use {@link #getElements} to get elements.
     *
     * <p>The returned list is a 'live-facade' of the real ones, so
     * the performance is good, and any modification to {@link #getChildren}
     * will affect it.
     *
     * @see #getElements()
     */
    public Set<String> getElementNames();
    /** Returns a cloned copy of all element children
     *
     * <p>Unlike {@link #getChildren} and {@link #getElementNames},
     * the returned list is NOT a 'live-facade' of the real ones.
     *
     * @see #getElementNames()
     */
    public List<Element> getElements();
}