/*
 * Copyright 2002-2007 the original author or authors.
 *
 * 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 org.springframework.ui;

import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Map;

/**
 * Java-5-specific interface that defines a holder for model attributes.
 * Primarily designed for adding attributes to the model.
 * Allows for accessing the overall model as a <code>java.util.Map</code>.
 *
 * @author Juergen Hoeller
 * @since 2.5.1
 */
public interface Model {

	/**
	 * Add the supplied attribute under the supplied name.
	 * @param attributeName the name of the model attribute (never <code>null</code>)
	 * @param attributeValue the model attribute value (can be <code>null</code>)
	 */
	Model addAttribute(String attributeName, Object attributeValue);

	/**
	 * Add the supplied attribute to this <code>Map</code> using a
	 * {@link org.springframework.core.Conventions#getVariableName generated name}.
	 * <p/><emphasis>Note: Empty {@link java.util.Collection Collections} are not added to
	 * the model when using this method because we cannot correctly determine
	 * the true convention name. View code should check for <code>null</code> rather
	 * than for empty collections as is already done by JSTL tags.</emphasis>
	 * @param attributeValue the model attribute value (never <code>null</code>)
	 */
	Model addAttribute(Object attributeValue);

	/**
	 * Copy all attributes in the supplied <code>Collection</code> into this
	 * <code>Map</code>, using attribute name generation for each element.
	 * @see #addAttribute(Object)
	 */
	Model addAllAttributes(Collection<?> attributeValues);

	/**
	 * Copy all attributes in the supplied <code>Map</code> into this <code>Map</code>.
	 * @see #addAttribute(String, Object)
	 */
	Model addAllAttributes(Map<String, ?> attributes);

	/**
	 * Copy all attributes in the supplied <code>Map</code> into this <code>Map</code>,
	 * with existing objects of the same name taking precedence (i.e. not getting
	 * replaced).
	 */
	Model mergeAttributes(Map<String, ?> attributes);

	/**
	 * Does this model contain an attribute of the given name?
	 * @param attributeName the name of the model attribute (never <code>null</code>)
	 * @return whether this model contains a corresponding attribute
	 */
	boolean containsAttribute(String attributeName);

	/**
	 * Return the current set of model attributes as a Map.
	 */
	Map<String, Object> asMap();

}