/**

  * Copyright 2005-2011 The Kuali Foundation

  *

  * Licensed under the Educational Community 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.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php

  *

  * 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.kuali.rice.krms.impl.repository;

 import java.util.List;

 import java.util.Map;

 import org.kuali.rice.krms.api.repository.type.KrmsAttributeDefinition;

 public interface KrmsAttributeDefinitionService {

     /**

      * This will create a {@link KrmsAttributeDefinition} exactly like the parameter passed in.

      *

      * @param attributeDefinition - KrmsAttributeDefinition

      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the attribute definition is null

      * @throws IllegalStateException if the attribute definition already exists in the system

      */

         public KrmsAttributeDefinition createAttributeDefinition(KrmsAttributeDefinition attributeDefinition);

     /**

      * This will update a {@link KrmsAttributeDefinition}.

      *

      *

      * @param attributeDefinition - KrmsAttributeDefinition

      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the attribute definition is null

      * @throws IllegalStateException if the attribute definition does not exist in the system

      */

         public void updateAttributeDefinition(KrmsAttributeDefinition attributeDefinition);

     /**

      * Lookup a KrmsAttributeDefinition based on the given id.

      *

      * @param id the given KrmsAttributeDefinition id

      * @return a KrmsAttributeDefinition object with the given id.  A null reference is returned if an invalid or

      *         non-existant id is supplied.

      */

         public KrmsAttributeDefinition getAttributeDefinitionById(String id);

     /**

      * Get a KrmsAttributeDefinition object based on name and namespace

      *

      * @param name the given name

      * @param namespace the given type namespace

      * @return A KrmsAttributeDefinition object with the given namespace and name if one with that name and namespace

      *         exists.  Otherwise, null is returned.

      * @throws IllegalStateException if multiple KrmsAttributeDefinitions exist with the same name and namespace

      */

         public KrmsAttributeDefinition getAttributeDefinitionByNameAndNamespace(String name, String namespace);

    /**

      * Returns all KrmsAttributeDefinition that for a given namespace.

      *

      * @return all KrmsAttributeDefinition for a namespace

      */

         public List<KrmsAttributeDefinition> findAttributeDefinitionsByNamespace(String namespace);

     /**

       * Returns all KrmsAttributeDefinition that for a given type.

       *

       * @return all KrmsAttributeDefinition for a type.  May be empty, will not be null;

       */

      public List<KrmsAttributeDefinition> findAttributeDefinitionsByType(String typeId);

     /**

      * Returns all KrmsAttributeDefinitions

      *

      * @return all KrmsAttributeDefinitions

      */

         public List<KrmsAttributeDefinition> findAllAttributeDefinitions();

         /**

          * This method converts a collection of name/value attribute pairs to

          * id/value attribute pairs.

          * <p>

          * At the api layer, attributes are represented as name/value pairs.

          * However, in the database, the names of the attribute and the values are

          * stored separately. The attribute definitions contain the attribute names.

          * All defined attributes(for the various krms entity types) are stored 

          * together in a single table. The attribute values themselves are stored 

          * in separate tables for each entity type, and then reference the attribute

          * definitions by the attribute definition id.

          * <p>

          * This method converts the name/value pairs to id/value pairs so they

          * can be searched from a single table. This simplifies the queries for 

          * attributes.

          * <p>

          * 

          * @param attributesByName - a Map<String/String> containing the name/value

          *         pairs for the set of attributes.

          * @param namespace - the namespace code of the set of attributes

          * @return a Map<String,String> containing the id/value pairs for the set

          * of attributes.

          */

         public Map<String,String> convertAttributeKeys(Map<String,String> attributesByName, String namespace);

         /**

          * This method gets the attribute definition ID for a given attribute

          * 

          * @param attributeName - the name of the attribute

          * @param namespace - the namespace code of the attribute

          * @return - the attribute definition id 

          */

         public String getKrmsAttributeId( String attributeName, String namespace);

         /**

          * This method gets a KrmsAttributeDefinitionBo object for a given attribute.

          * 

          * @param attributeName - the name of the attribute

          * @param namespace - the namespace code of the attribute

          * @return - the attribute definition id 

          */

         public KrmsAttributeDefinitionBo getKrmsAttributeBo( String attributeName, String namespace);

         /**

          * This method clears the cache of AttributeDefinitionBo objects.

          * <p>

          * Since searching for attribute definitions is a common operation,

          * the attribute definitions fetched from the database are cached to

          * improve performance.

          * <p>

          */

         public void clearCache();

 }