/*
* Copyright 2008 Udai Gupta, Ralf Joachim
*
* 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.cpa.query;
/**
* Base interface for all query objects.
*
* @author <a href="mailto:mailtoud AT gmail DOT com">Udai Gupta</a>
* @author <a href="mailto:ralf DOT joachim AT syscon DOT eu">Ralf Joachim</a>
* @version $Revision: 7121 $ $Date: 2006-04-25 16:09:10 -0600 (Tue, 25 Apr 2006) $
* @since 1.3
*/
public interface QueryObject {
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------
/**
* Append a string representation of the object to the given <code>StringBuilder</code>.
* In general, the toString method for query objects appends a string that textually
* represents this object. The result should be a query string that complies to EJB QL
* specification as long as the query object represents a syntay element of it. It is
* required that all subclasses override this method.
*
* The toString method defined at class Object is overwritten and calls this method.
*
* @param sb StringBuilder to append the string representation of this object to.
* @return Same instance of StringBuilder given as parameter.
*/
StringBuilder toString(StringBuilder sb);
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------
}