/*

  * 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.apache.commons.classscan.model;

 import java.util.Set;

 import org.apache.commons.classscan.HasName;

 import org.apache.commons.classscan.MetaClassPathElement;

 /**

  * Metadata about a class or primitive type

  */

 public interface MetaClass extends HasName, MetaType {

     /**

      * Get the ClassLocation from which the corresponding class came. For

      * primitive types, this will return null.

      */

     MetaClassPathElement getClassLocation();

     /**

      * Get the canonical name of the corresponding Class. For primitive types,

      * this will be the primitive type name. e.g. char

      */

     String getName();

     /**

      * Get metadata about the corresponding Class's parent

      * 

      * @return The MetaClass, or null if the corresponding Class is a primitive

      *         type or Object.class

      */

     MetaClass getParent();

     /**

      * Get metadata about the interfaces which the corresponding Class

      * implements. No inherited interfaces will be in the set.

      * 

      * @return A read-only set of the interface information

      */

     Set<? extends MetaClass> getInterfaces();

     /**

      * Get metadata about the annotations on the corresponding Class.

      * 

      * @return A read-only set of the annotation information

      */

     Set<? extends MetaAnnotation> getAnnotations();

     /**

      * Get metadata about a particular annotation on the corresponding Class.

      * 

      * @param annotationName

      *            The name of the annotation desired

      * 

      * @return The annotation information, or null if not specified on the

      *         corresponding Class

      */

     MetaAnnotation getAnnotation(String annotationName);

     /**

      * Get metadata about the corresponding Class's methods and constructors. No

      * inherited methods will be in the set.

      * 

      * @return A read-only set of the method information

      */

     Set<? extends MetaMethod> getMethods();

     /**

      * Get metadata about the corresponding Class's methods and constructors. No

      * inherited fields will be in the set.

      * 

      * @return A read-only set of the field information

      */

     Set<? extends MetaField> getFields();

     /**

      * Is the associated Class assignable from the class associated with the

      * given MetaClass.

      * 

      * @param assignor

      *            The non-null MetaClass (associated with class or interface)

      * @return true, if and only if instances represented by implementor can be

      *         assigned to instances represented by this MetaClass

      */

     boolean isAssignableFrom(MetaClass assignor);

 }