/*
* 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: MapJoin.java 20957 2011-06-13 09:58:51Z stliu $
package javax.persistence.criteria;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.persistence.metamodel.MapAttribute;
/**
* The <code>MapJoin</code> interface is the type of the result of
* joining to a collection over an association or element
* collection that has been specified as a <code>java.util.Map</code>.
*
* @param <Z> the source type of the join
* @param <K> the type of the target Map key
* @param <V> the type of the target Map value
* @since Java Persistence 2.0
*/
public interface MapJoin<Z, K, V> extends PluralJoin<Z, Map<K, V>, V> {
/**
* Return the metamodel representation for the map attribute.
*
* @return metamodel type representing the <code>Map</code> that is
* the target of the join
*/
MapAttribute<? super Z, K, V> getModel();
/**
* Create a path expression that corresponds to the map key.
*
* @return path corresponding to map key
*/
Path<K> key();
/**
* Create a path expression that corresponds to the map value.
* This method is for stylistic use only: it just returns this.
*
* @return path corresponding to the map value
*/
Path<V> value();
/**
* Create an expression that corresponds to the map entry.
*
* @return expression corresponding to the map entry
*/
Expression<Map.Entry<K, V>> entry();
}