/*
 * CDDL HEADER START
 *
 * The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
 * Common Development and Distribution License, Version 1.0 only
 * (the "License").  You may not use this file except in compliance
 * with the License.
 *
 * You can obtain a copy of the license at
 * trunk/opends/resource/legal-notices/OpenDS.LICENSE
 * or https://OpenDS.dev.java.net/OpenDS.LICENSE.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions
 * and limitations under the License.
 *
 * When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
 * file and include the License file at
 * trunk/opends/resource/legal-notices/OpenDS.LICENSE.  If applicable,
 * add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed
 * by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information:
 *      Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
 *
 * CDDL HEADER END
 *
 *
 *      Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 */

package org.opends.sdk.schema;



import org.opends.sdk.ByteSequence;
import org.opends.sdk.LocalizableMessageBuilder;




/**
 * This class defines the set of methods and structures that must be
 * implemented to define a new attribute syntax.
 */
public interface SyntaxImpl
{
  /**
   * Retrieves the default approximate matching rule that will be used
   * for attributes with this syntax.
   * 
   * @return The default approximate matching rule that will be used for
   *         attributes with this syntax, or {@code null} if approximate
   *         matches will not be allowed for this type by default.
   */
  public String getApproximateMatchingRule();



  /**
   * Retrieves the default equality matching rule that will be used for
   * attributes with this syntax.
   * 
   * @return The default equality matching rule that will be used for
   *         attributes with this syntax, or {@code null} if equality
   *         matches will not be allowed for this type by default.
   */
  public String getEqualityMatchingRule();



  /**
   * Retrieves the common name for this attribute syntax.
   * 
   * @return The common name for this attribute syntax.
   */
  public String getName();



  /**
   * Retrieves the default ordering matching rule that will be used for
   * attributes with this syntax.
   * 
   * @return The default ordering matching rule that will be used for
   *         attributes with this syntax, or {@code null} if ordering
   *         matches will not be allowed for this type by default.
   */
  public String getOrderingMatchingRule();



  /**
   * Retrieves the default substring matching rule that will be used for
   * attributes with this syntax.
   * 
   * @return The default substring matching rule that will be used for
   *         attributes with this syntax, or {@code null} if substring
   *         matches will not be allowed for this type by default.
   */
  public String getSubstringMatchingRule();



  /**
   * Indicates whether this attribute syntax requires that values must
   * be encoded using the Basic Encoding Rules (BER) used by X.500
   * directories and always include the {@code binary} attribute
   * description option.
   * 
   * @return {@code true} this attribute syntax requires that values
   *         must be BER encoded and always include the {@code binary}
   *         attribute description option, or {@code false} if not.
   * @see <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4522">RFC 4522 -
   *      Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Binary
   *      Encoding Option </a>
   */
  public boolean isBEREncodingRequired();



  /**
   * Indicates whether this attribute syntax would likely be a human
   * readable string.
   * 
   * @return {@code true} if this attribute syntax would likely be a
   *         human readable string or {@code false} if not.
   */
  boolean isHumanReadable();



  /**
   * Indicates whether the provided value is acceptable for use in an
   * attribute with this syntax. If it is not, then the reason may be
   * appended to the provided buffer.
   * 
   * @param schema
   *          The schema in which this syntax is defined.
   * @param value
   *          The value for which to make the determination.
   * @param invalidReason
   *          The buffer to which the invalid reason should be appended.
   * @return {@code true} if the provided value is acceptable for use
   *         with this syntax, or {@code false} if not.
   */
  boolean valueIsAcceptable(Schema schema, ByteSequence value,
      LocalizableMessageBuilder invalidReason);
}