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/*
 * MappingRelationshipElement.java
 *
 * Created on March 3, 2000, 1:11 PM
 */

package com.sun.jdo.api.persistence.model.mapping;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import org.netbeans.modules.dbschema.ColumnPairElement;

import com.sun.jdo.api.persistence.model.ModelException;

/** 
 * This is a specialized field element which represents a relationship 
 * between two classes.  The mapping portion should be set up as follows:
 * When mapping a non-join table relationship, call the {@link #addColumn}
 * method once with each pair of columns between the local table and the 
 * foreign table.  When mapping a join table relationship, call the 
 * {@link #addLocalColumn} once for each pair of columns between the 
 * local table and the join table and {@link #addAssociatedColumn} once for 
 * each pair of columns between the join table and the foreign table.  
 * Note that the number of pairs (local and associated) may differ and that
 * the order of adding them (local first or associated first) is not 
 * important.
 *
 * @author Mark Munro
 * @author Rochelle Raccah
 * @version %I%
 */
public interface MappingRelationshipElement extends MappingFieldElement 
{
	//=================== column handling for join tables ====================

	/** Returns the list of associated column names to which this 
	 * mapping field is mapped.  This is used for join tables.
	 * @return the names of the columns mapped by this mapping field
	 * @see MappingFieldElement#getColumns
	 */
	public ArrayList getAssociatedColumns ();

	/** Adds a column to the list of columns mapped by this mapping field.  
	 * Call this method instead of <code>addColumn</code> when mapping join 
	 * tables.  This method is used to map between the local column and the 
	 * join table, while <code>addAssociatedColumn</code> is used to 
	 * map between the join table and the foreign table.
	 * @param column foreign column element to be added to the mapping
	 * @exception ModelException if impossible
	 * @see MappingFieldElement#addColumn
	 * @see #addAssociatedColumn
	 */
	public void addLocalColumn (ColumnPairElement column) throws ModelException;

	/** Adds a column to the list of associated columns mapped by this mapping 
	 * field.  Call this method instead of <code>addColumn</code> when mapping 
	 * join tables.  This method is used to map between the join table column  
	 * and the foreign table column, while <code>addLocalColumn</code> is used 
	 * to map between the local table and the join table.
	 * @param column foreign column element to be added to the mapping
	 * @exception ModelException if impossible
	 * @see MappingFieldElement#addColumn
	 * @see #addLocalColumn
	 */
	public void addAssociatedColumn (ColumnPairElement column)
		throws ModelException;
}