/* AttributeSet.java -- 
   Copyright (C) 2002, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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package javax.print.attribute;

/**
 * <code>AttributeSet</code> is the top-level interface for sets of printing
 * attributes in the Java Print Service API.
 * <p>
 * There are no duplicate values allowed in an attribute set and there is
 * at most one attribute object contained per category type. Based on the
 * {@link java.util.Map} interface the values of attribute sets are objects
 * of type {@link javax.print.attribute.Attribute} and the entries are the
 * categories as {@link java.lang.Class} instances.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * The following specialized types of <code>AttributeSet</code> are available:
 * <ul>
 *  <li>{@link javax.print.attribute.DocAttributeSet}</li>
 *  <li>{@link javax.print.attribute.PrintRequestAttributeSet}</li>
 *  <li>{@link javax.print.attribute.PrintJobAttributeSet}</li>
 *  <li>{@link javax.print.attribute.PrintServiceAttributeSet}</li>
 * </ul>
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * Attribute sets may be unmodifiable depending on the context of usage. If 
 * used as read-only attribute set modifying operations throw an 
 * {@link javax.print.attribute.UnmodifiableSetException}.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * The Java Print Service API provides implementation classes for the existing
 * attribute set interfaces but applications may use their own implementations.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @author Michael Koch (konqueror@gmx.de)
 */
public interface AttributeSet
{
  /**
   * Adds the specified attribute value to this attribute set 
   * if it is not already present.
   * 
   * This operation removes any existing attribute of the same category 
   * before adding the given attribute to the set. 
   * 
   * @param attribute the attribute to add.
   * @return <code>true</code> if the set is changed, false otherwise.
   * @throws NullPointerException if the attribute is <code>null</code>.
   * @throws UnmodifiableSetException if the set does not support modification.
   */
  boolean add (Attribute attribute);

  /**
   * Adds all of the elements in the specified set to this attribute set.
   * 
   * @param attributes the set of attributes to add.
   * @return <code>true</code> if the set is changed, false otherwise.
   * @throws UnmodifiableSetException if the set does not support modification.
   * 
   * @see #add(Attribute)
   */
  boolean addAll (AttributeSet attributes);
  
  /**
   * Removes all attributes from this attribute set.
   * 
   * @throws UnmodifiableSetException if the set does not support modification.
   */
  void clear ();
  
  /**
   * Checks if this attributes set contains an attribute with the given 
   * category.
   * 
   * @param category the category to test for.
   * @return <code>true</code> if an attribute of the category is contained
   * in the set, <code>false</code> otherwise.
   */
  boolean containsKey (Class category);
  
  /**
   * Checks if this attribute set contains the given attribute.
   * 
   * @param attribute the attribute to test for.
   * @return <code>true</code> if the attribute is contained in the set,
   * <code>false</code> otherwise.
   */
  boolean containsValue (Attribute attribute);
  
  /**
   * Tests this set for equality with the given object. <code>true</code> is
   * returned, if the given object is also of type <code>AttributeSet</code>
   * and the contained attributes are the same as in this set.
   * 
   * @param obj the Object to test.
   * @return <code>true</code> if equal, false otherwise.
   */
  boolean equals (Object obj);
  
  /**
   * Returns the attribute object contained in this set for the given attribute
   * category. 
   * 
   * @param category the category of the attribute. A <code>Class</code> 
   * instance of a class implementing the <code>Attribute</code> interface. 
   * @return The attribute for this category or <code>null</code> if no 
   * attribute is contained for the given category. 
   * @throws NullPointerException if category is null.
   * @throws ClassCastException if category is not implementing 
   * <code>Attribute</code>.
   */
  Attribute get (Class category);
  
  /**
   * Returns the hashcode value. The hashcode value is the sum of all hashcodes
   * of the attributes contained in this set.
   * 
   * @return The hashcode for this attribute set.
   */
  int hashCode ();
  
  /**
   * Checks if the attribute set is empty.
   *
   * @return <code>true</code> if the attribute set is empty, false otherwise.
   */
  boolean isEmpty ();

  /**
   * Removes the given attribute from the set. If the given attribute is <code>null</code>
   * nothing is done and <code>false</code> is returned.
   * 
   * @param attribute the attribute to remove.  
   * @return <code>true</code> if removed, false in all other cases. 
   * @throws UnmodifiableSetException if the set does not support modification.
   */
  boolean remove (Attribute attribute);
  
  /**
   * Removes the attribute entry of the given category from the set. If the given
   * category is <code>null</code> nothing is done and <code>false</code> is returned.
   * 
   * @param category the category of the entry to be removed.
   * @return <code>true</code> if an attribute is removed, false in all other cases. 
   * @throws UnmodifiableSetException if the set does not support modification.
   */
  boolean remove (Class category);
  
  /**
   * Returns the number of elements in this attribute set.
   *
   * @return The number of elements.
   */
  int size ();
  
  /**
   * Returns the content of the attribute set as an array
   *
   * @return An array of attributes.
   */
  Attribute[] toArray ();
}