/*
 * Copyright 2002,2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache 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.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * 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 javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.sql;

import java.util.SortedMap;

/**
 * <p>This interface represents the result of a &lt;sql:query&gt;
 * action. It provides access to the following information in the
 * query result:</p>
 *
 * <ul>
 * <li> result rows
 * <li> result rows using an index
 * <li> number of rows in the result
 * <li> result meta data
 * <li> indication whether result returned is a complete set or
 *      a subset limited by a maximum row setting
 * </ul>
 *
 * @author Justyna Horwat
 *
 */
public interface Result {

    /**
     * Returns an array of SortedMap objects. Column name is used as the key
     * for the column value. SortedMap must use the CASE_INSENSITIVE_ORDER
     * Comparator so that the key is the case insensitive representation
     * of the column name.
     *
     * @return the result rows as an array of <code>SortedMap</code> objects
     */
    public SortedMap[] getRows();

    /**
     * Returns an array of Objects[]. The first index
     * designates the Row, the second the Column. The array
     * stores the value at the specified row and column.
     *
     * @return the result rows as an array of <code>Object[]</code> objects
     */
    public Object[][] getRowsByIndex();

    /**
     * Returns an array of column names.
     *
     * @return the column names as an array of <code>String</code> objects
     */
    public String[] getColumnNames();

    /**
     * Returns the number of rows in the cached ResultSet
     *
     * @return the number of rows in the result
     */
    public int getRowCount();

    /**
     * Returns true of the query was limited by a maximum row setting
     *
     * @return <tt>true</tt> if the query was limited by a maximum
     * row setting
     */
    public boolean isLimitedByMaxRows();
}