/*
 * CDDL HEADER START
 *
 * The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
 * Common Development and Distribution License, Version 1.0 only
 * (the "License").  You may not use this file except in compliance
 * with the License.
 *
 * You can obtain a copy of the license at
 * trunk/opends/resource/legal-notices/OpenDS.LICENSE
 * or https://OpenDS.dev.java.net/OpenDS.LICENSE.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions
 * and limitations under the License.
 *
 * When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
 * file and include the License file at
 * trunk/opends/resource/legal-notices/OpenDS.LICENSE.  If applicable,
 * add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed
 * by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information:
 *      Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
 *
 * CDDL HEADER END
 *
 *
 *      Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 */

package org.opends.server.admin;



import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Collections;



/**
 * An interface which can be used to initialize the contents of a managed
 * object.
 */
public interface PropertyProvider {

  /**
   * A property provider which always returns empty property values, indicating
   * default behavior.
   */
  public static final PropertyProvider DEFAULT_PROVIDER =
    new PropertyProvider() {

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public <T> Collection<T> getPropertyValues(PropertyDefinition<T> d)
        throws IllegalArgumentException {
      return Collections.<T> emptySet();
    }

  };



  /**
   * Get the property values associated with the specified property definition.
   * <p>
   * Implementations are not required to validate the values that they provide.
   * Specifically:
   * <ul>
   * <li>they do not need to guarantee that the provided values are valid
   * according to the property's syntax
   * <li>they do not need to provide values for mandatory properties
   * <li>they do not need to ensure that single-valued properties do contain at
   * most one value.
   * </ul>
   * The returned set of values is allowed to contain duplicates.
   *
   * @param <T>
   *          The underlying type of the property.
   * @param d
   *          The Property definition.
   * @return Returns a newly allocated set containing a copy of the property's
   *         values. An empty set indicates that the property has no values
   *         defined and any default behavior is applicable.
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException
   *           If this property provider does not recognise the requested
   *           property definition.
   */
  <T> Collection<T> getPropertyValues(PropertyDefinition<T> d)
      throws IllegalArgumentException;
}