/*
* Copyright (c) 2008, 2009 Sun Microsystems. All rights reserved.
*
* This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
* terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0
* which accompanies this distribution.
* The Eclipse Public License is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
* and the Eclipse Distribution License is available at
* http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php.
*
* Contributors:
* Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.0 - Version 2.0 (October 1, 2009)
* Specification available from http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317
*/
// $Id: Expression.java 20957 2011-06-13 09:58:51Z stliu $
package javax.persistence.criteria;
import java.util.Collection;
/**
* Type for query expressions.
*
* @param <T> the type of the expression
* @since Java Persistence 2.0
*/
public interface Expression<T> extends Selection<T> {
/**
* Create a predicate to test whether the expression is null.
*
* @return predicate testing whether the expression is null
*/
Predicate isNull();
/**
* Create a predicate to test whether the expression is
* not null.
*
* @return predicate testing whether the expression is not null
*/
Predicate isNotNull();
/**
* Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
* of the argument list.
*
* @param values values to be tested against
*
* @return predicate testing for membership
*/
Predicate in(Object... values);
/**
* Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
* of the argument list.
*
* @param values expressions to be tested against
*
* @return predicate testing for membership
*/
Predicate in(Expression<?>... values);
/**
* Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
* of the collection.
*
* @param values collection of values to be tested against
*
* @return predicate testing for membership
*/
Predicate in(Collection<?> values);
/**
* Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
* of the collection.
*
* @param values expression corresponding to collection to be
* tested against
*
* @return predicate testing for membership
*/
Predicate in(Expression<Collection<?>> values);
/**
* Perform a typecast upon the expression, returning a new
* expression object.
* This method does not cause type conversion:
* the runtime type is not changed.
* Warning: may result in a runtime failure.
*
* @param type intended type of the expression
*
* @return new expression of the given type
*/
<X> Expression<X> as(Class<X> type);
}