/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2000, 2003 IBM Corporation and others.
 * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials 
 * are made available under the terms of the Common Public License v1.0
 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/cpl-v10.html
 * 
 * Contributors:
 *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
 *******************************************************************************/
package net.sourceforge.phpdt.core;

/**
 * Represents a method (or constructor) declared in a type.
 * <p>
 * This interface is not intended to be implemented by clients.
 * </p>
 */
public interface IMethod extends IMember {
/**
 * Returns the simple name of this method.
 * For a constructor, this returns the simple name of the declaring type.
 * Note: This holds whether the constructor appears in a source or binary type
 * (even though class files internally define constructor names to be <code>"&lt;init&gt;"</code>).
 * For the class initialization methods in binary types, this returns
 * the special name <code>"&lt;clinit&gt;"</code>.
 * This is a handle-only method.
 */
String getElementName();
/**
 * Returns the type signatures of the exceptions this method throws,
 * in the order declared in the source. Returns an empty array
 * if this method throws no exceptions.
 *
 * <p>For example, a source method declaring <code>"throws IOException"</code>,
 * would return the array <code>{"QIOException;"}</code>.
 *
 * @exception JavaModelException if this element does not exist or if an
 *      exception occurs while accessing its corresponding resource.
 * @return the type signatures of the exceptions this method throws,
 * in the order declared in the source, an empty array if this method throws no exceptions
 * @see Signature
 */
String[] getExceptionTypes() throws JavaModelException;
/**
 * Returns the number of parameters of this method.
 * This is a handle-only method.
 * 
 * @return the number of parameters of this method
 */
int getNumberOfParameters();
/**
 * Returns the names of parameters in this method.
 * For binary types, these names are invented as "arg"+i, where i starts at 1 
 * (even if source is associated with the binary).
 * Returns an empty array if this method has no parameters.
 *
 * <p>For example, a method declared as <code>public void foo(String text, int length)</code>
 * would return the array <code>{"text","length"}</code>.
 *
 * @exception JavaModelException if this element does not exist or if an
 *      exception occurs while accessing its corresponding resource.
 * @return the names of parameters in this method, an empty array if this method has no parameters
 */
String[] getParameterNames() throws JavaModelException;
/**
 * Returns the type signatures for the parameters of this method.
 * Returns an empty array if this method has no parameters.
 * This is a handle-only method.
 *
 * <p>For example, a source method declared as <code>public void foo(String text, int length)</code>
 * would return the array <code>{"QString;","I"}</code>.
 * 
 * @return the type signatures for the parameters of this method, an empty array if this method has no parameters
 * @see Signature
 */
String[] getParameterTypes();
/**
 * Returns the type signature of the return value of this method.
 * For constructors, this returns the signature for void.
 *
 * <p>For example, a source method declared as <code>public String getName()</code>
 * would return <code>"QString;"</code>.
 *
 * @exception JavaModelException if this element does not exist or if an
 *      exception occurs while accessing its corresponding resource.
 * @return the type signature of the return value of this method, void  for constructors
 * @see Signature
 */
String getReturnType() throws JavaModelException;
/**
 * Returns the signature of the method. This includes the signatures for the parameter
 * types and return type, but does not include the method name or exception types.
 *
 * <p>For example, a source method declared as <code>public void foo(String text, int length)</code>
 * would return <code>"(QString;I)V"</code>.
 *
 * @exception JavaModelException if this element does not exist or if an
 *      exception occurs while accessing its corresponding resource.
 *
 * @see Signature
 */
String getSignature() throws JavaModelException;
/**
 * Returns whether this method is a constructor.
 *
 * @exception JavaModelException if this element does not exist or if an
 *      exception occurs while accessing its corresponding resource.
 * 
 * @return true if this method is a constructor, false otherwise
 */
boolean isConstructor() throws JavaModelException;
/**
 * Returns whether this method is a main method.
 * It is a main method if:
 * <ul>
 * <li>its name is equal to <code>"main"</code></li>
 * <li>its return type is <code>void</code></li>
 * <li>it is <code>static</code> and <code>public</code></li>
 * <li>it defines one parameter whose type's simple name is </code>String[]</code></li>
 * </ul>
 * 
 * @exception JavaModelException if this element does not exist or if an
 *      exception occurs while accessing its corresponding resource.
 * @since 2.0
 * @return true if this method is a main method, false otherwise
 */
boolean isMainMethod() throws JavaModelException;
/**
 * Returns whether this method is similar to the given method.
 * Two methods are similar if:
 * <ul>
 * <li>their element names are equal</li>
 * <li>they have the same number of parameters</li>
 * <li>the simple names of their parameter types are equal</li>
 * </ul>
 * This is a handle-only method.
 * 
 * @param method the given method
 * @return true if this method is similar to the given method.
 * @see Signature#getSimpleName
 * @since 2.0
 */
boolean isSimilar(IMethod method);
}