/**

  * Copyright 2005-2013 Dozer Project

  *

  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");

  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.

  * You may obtain a copy of the License at

  *

  *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  *

  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,

  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and

  * limitations under the License.

  */

 package org.dozer.metadata;

 import java.util.List;

 /**

  * This interface can be used to query mapping metadata from the dozer internal data structures. It provides 

  * read only access to all important aspects of the mapping information on class and field level.

  * 

  * @author Florian Kunz

  */

 public interface MappingMetadata {

         /**

          * Obtains a list of all available mapping definitions.

          * 

          * @return A list of {@code ClassMappingMetadata}

          */

         List<ClassMappingMetadata> getClassMappings();

         /**

          * 

          * This method retrieves class mapping metadata based on the source class name.

          * 

          * @param sourceClassName The fully qualified class name of the source class.

          * 

          * @return A list of mapping metadata which defines how to map a class with the name

          * {@code sourceClassName} to other classes.

          */

         List<ClassMappingMetadata> getClassMappingsBySourceName(String sourceClassName);

         /**

          * 

          * This method retrieves class mapping metadata based on the destination class name.

          * 

          * @param destinationClassName The fully qualified class name of the destination class.

          * 

          * @return A list of mapping metadata which defines how to map to a class with the name

          * {@code destinationClassName}.

          */

         List<ClassMappingMetadata> getClassMappingsByDestinationName(String destinationClassName);

         /**

          * 

          * This method retrieves class mapping metadata based on the class names.

          * 

          * @param sourceClassName The fully qualified class name of the source class.

          * @param destinationClassName The fully qualified class name of the destination class.

          * 

          * @return A list of mapping metadata which defines how to map a class with the name

          * {@code sourceClassName} to a class with the name {@code destinationClassName}.

          */

         ClassMappingMetadata getClassMappingByName(String sourceClassName, String destinationClassName);

         /**

          * 

          * This method retrieves class mapping metadata based on the source class.

          * 

          * @param sourceClass The Class object which references the source class.

          * 

          * @return A list of mapping metadata which defines how to map the class {@code sourceClass} 

          * to other classes.

          */

         List<ClassMappingMetadata> getClassMappingsBySource(Class<?> sourceClass);

         /**

          * 

          * This method retrieves class mapping metadata based on the destination class.

          * 

          * @param destinationClass The Class object which references the destination class.

          * 

          * @return A list of mapping metadata which defines how to map to the class 

          * {@code destinationClass}.

          */

         List<ClassMappingMetadata> getClassMappingsByDestination(Class<?> destinationClass);

         /**

          * 

          * This method retrieves class mapping metadata based on two Class objects.

          * 

          * @param sourceClass The Class object that references the source class.

          * @param destinationClass The Class object that references the destination class.

          * 

          * @return The mapping metadata object which defines how to map the class {@code sourceClass} 

          * to the class {@code destinationClass}.

          * @throws MetadataLookupException If no class map could be found.

          */

         ClassMappingMetadata getClassMapping(Class<?> sourceClass, Class<?> destinationClass);

 }