/*
 * Copyright 2007 Joachim Grueneis
 *
 * 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.castor.core.annotationprocessing;

import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
import java.util.Set;

import org.castor.core.nature.BaseNature;
import org.castor.core.nature.PropertyHolder;

/**
 * An AnnotationProcessingService handles multiple {@link AnnotationProcessor}s and uses them to
 * process one or more {@link Annotation}s.
 * 
 * @see AnnotationProcessor
 * @author Alexander Eibner, Peter Schmidt, Joachim Grueneis
 * @since 1.3
 */
public interface AnnotationProcessingService {

  /**
   * Calls {@link #processAnnotation(BaseNature, Annotation)} for each given Annotation.
   * 
   * @param info the {@link BaseNature} (and so its {@link PropertyHolder}) that should be filled
   *        with the information read
   * @param annotations the annotations to process
   * @return Annotation[] filled with unprocessed annotations
   * @see #processAnnotation(BaseNature, Annotation)
   */
  public abstract <I extends BaseNature> Annotation[] processAnnotations(I info,
      final Annotation[] annotations);

  /**
   * The processing action of this service. If an annotation is given which is not supported by this
   * processor false is returned. Otherwise the Annotations specific processor will (try to) process
   * the Annotation and the result of
   * {@link AnnotationProcessor#processAnnotation(BaseNature, Annotation)} is returned.
   * 
   * @param info the {@link BaseNature} (and so its {@link PropertyHolder}) that should be filled
   *        with the information read
   * @param annotation the annotation to process
   * @return true, if the annotation was processed, false if not
   * @see AnnotationProcessor
   */
  public <I extends BaseNature, A extends Annotation> boolean processAnnotation(I info,
      final A annotation);

  /**
   * Add an {@link AnnotationProcessor} to the service.
   * 
   * @param annotationProcessor the {@link AnnotationProcessor} to add to this service.
   */
  public void addAnnotationProcessor(final AnnotationProcessor annotationProcessor);

  /**
   * Returns the set of {@link AnnotationProcessor}s registered with this service.
   * 
   * @return A set of {@link AnnotationProcessor}s registered with this service.
   */
  public Set<AnnotationProcessor> getAnnotationProcessors();

}
