sandbox/model/src/main/java/org/apache/tamaya/model/ConfigSection.java

/*
 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
 * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
 * distributed with this work for additional information
 * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
 * to you 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 org.apache.tamaya.model;

import java.util.Collection;

/**
 * Interface describing a configuration section.
 */
public interface ConfigSection extends Validated {
    /**
     * Get all parameters contained in the given section.
     *
     * @return the parameters, not null.
     */
    Collection<ConfigParameter> getParameters();

    /**
     * Get all parameters contained in the given section.
     *
     * @param recursive if true, traverse down the subtree and collect all parameters found.
     * @return the parameters, not null.
     */
    Collection<ConfigParameter> getParameters(boolean recursive);

    /**
     * Get a parameter by name.
     *
     * @param name the parameter name.
     * @return the parameter found, or null.
     */
    ConfigParameter getParameter(String name);

    /**
     * Get all child section (non recursive).
     *
     * @return all child sections, never null.
     */
    Collection<ConfigSection> getChildSections();

    /**
     * Get a child section by name (non recursive).
     *
     * @param name the section's name.
     * @return the section found, or null.
     */
    ConfigSection getSection(String name);

    /**
     * Get a section by name/path. The section path can be relative (first lookup)
     * or absolute.
     *
     * @param name the section's name/path.
     * @return the section found, or null.
     */
    ConfigSection lookupSection(String name);

    /**
     * Flag if the item is required.
     *
     * @return true, if the item is required.
     */
    boolean isRequired();

    /**
     * Get the containing parent section.
     *
     * @return the parent secion, or null, if there is no parent.
     */
    ConfigSection getParent();
}