/* Clob.java -- Access Character Large OBjects
   Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of GNU Classpath.

GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
any later version.
 
GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
02110-1301 USA.

Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
making a combined work based on this library.  Thus, the terms and
conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
combination.

As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
module.  An independent module is a module which is not derived from
or based on this library.  If you modify this library, you may extend
this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
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package java.sql;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.Reader;
import java.io.Writer;

/**
 * This interface contains methods for accessing a SQL CLOB (Character Large
 * OBject) type.
 * 
 * @author Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com)
 */
public interface Clob
{
  /**
   * This method returns the number of characters in this <code>Clob</code>.
   * 
   * @return The number of characters in this <code>Clob</code>.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.2
   */
  long length() throws SQLException;

  /**
   * This method returns the specified portion of this <code>Clob</code> as a
   * <code>String</code>.
   * 
   * @param start The index into this <code>Clob</code> (index values
   *              start at 1) to start returning characters from.
   * @param count The requested number of characters to return.
   * @return The requested <code>Clob</code> section, as a <code>String</code>.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.2
   */
  String getSubString(long start, int count) throws SQLException;

  /**
   * This method returns a character stream that reads the contents of this
   * <code>Clob</code>.
   * 
   * @return A character stream to read this <code>Clob</code>'s contents.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.2
   */
  Reader getCharacterStream() throws SQLException;

  /**
   * This method returns a byte stream that reads the contents of this
   * <code>Clob</code> as a series of ASCII bytes.
   * 
   * @return A stream to read this <code>Clob</code>'s contents.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.2
   */
  InputStream getAsciiStream() throws SQLException;

  /**
   * This method returns the index into this <code>Clob</code> of the first
   * occurrence of the specified character pattern (supplied by the caller as a
   * <code>String</code>). The search begins at the specified index.
   * 
   * @param pattern The character pattern to search for, passed as a
   *                <code>String</code>.
   * @param start The index into this <code>Clob</code> to start searching
   *              (indices start at 1).
   * @return The index at which the pattern was found (indices start at 1), or
   *         -1 if the pattern was not found.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.2
   */
  long position(String pattern, long start) throws SQLException;

  /**
   * This method returns the index into this <code>Clob</code> of the first
   * occurrence of the specified character pattern (supplied by the caller as a
   * <code>Clob</code>). The search begins at the specified index.
   * 
   * @param pattern The character pattern to search for, passed as a
   *                <code>Clob</code>.
   * @param start The index into this <code>Clob</code> to start searching
   *              (indices start at 1).
   * @return The index at which the pattern was found (indices start at 1), or
   *         -1 if the pattern was not found.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.2
   */
  long position(Clob pattern, long start) throws SQLException;

  /**
   * Writes the specified string into this <code>Clob</code>, starting at the
   * specified index.
   * 
   * @param start The index at which the writing starts.
   * @param value The string to write.
   * @return The number of characters written.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.4
   */
  int setString(long start, String value) throws SQLException;

  /**
   * Writes the specified portion of a string into this <code>Clob</code>,
   * starting at the specified index.
   * 
   * @param startWrite The index at which the writing starts.
   * @param value The string to write a portion of.
   * @param startRead The offset into the string where the portion to copy
   *                  starts.
   * @param count The number of characters to write.
   * @return The number of characters written.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.4
   */
  int setString(long startWrite, String value, int startRead, int count)
      throws SQLException;

  /**
   * Returns an ASCII text stream that writes into this <code>Clob</code>,
   * starting at the specified index.
   * 
   * @param start The index at which the writing starts.
   * @return An ASCII text stream to write into this <code>Clob</code>.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.4
   */
  OutputStream setAsciiStream(long start) throws SQLException;

  /**
   * Returns a character stream that writes into this <code>Clob</code>,
   * starting at the specified index.
   * 
   * @param start The index at which the writing starts.
   * @return A character stream to write into this <code>Clob</code>.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.4
   */
  Writer setCharacterStream(long start) throws SQLException;

  /**
   * Truncates this <code>Clob</code> to be at most the specified number of
   * characters long.
   * 
   * @param count The length this <code>Clob</code> is truncated to.
   * @exception SQLException If an error occurs.
   * @since 1.4
   */
  void truncate(long count) throws SQLException;
}