/*******************************************************************************
 * 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);
}