/*

  * Copyright 2006-2011 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.kim.api.type;

 import java.util.Collection;

 public interface KimTypeInfoService {

     /**

      * Gets a {@link KimType} from a kim type id.

      * <p/>

      * <p>

      * This method will return null if the kim type does not exist.

      * </p>

      *

      * @param id the id to retrieve the kim type by. cannot be null.

      * @return a {@link KimType} or null

      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the id is null

      */

     KimType getKimType(String id);

     /**

      * Gets a {@link KimType} from a kim type name and namespace code.

      * <p/>

      * <p>

      * This method will return null if the kim type does not exist.

      * </p>

      * <p/>

      * <p>

      * This method will only return active kim types.

      * </p>

      *

      * @param namespaceCode the namespaceCode to retrieve the kim type by. cannot be null.

      * @param name          the name to retrieve the kim type by. cannot be null.

      * @return a {@link KimType} or null

      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the namespaceCode or name is null

      * @throws IllegalStateException    if multiple active results are found for a namespaceCode and name

      */

     KimType findKimTypeByNameAndNamespace(String namespaceCode, String name);

     /**

      * Gets all the {@link KimType KimTypes}.

      * <p/>

      * <p>

      * This method will always return an <b>immutable</b> Collection

      * even when no values exist.

      * </p>

      * <p/>

      * <p>

      * This method will only return active kim types.

      * </p>

      *

      * @return an immutable collection of kim types

      */

     Collection<KimType> findAllKimTypes();

 }