using System;
using System.Reflection;

/// <header>
/// <wox>
///     <version>1.0</version>
///     <author>Carlos R. Jaimez Gonzalez</author>
///     <author>Simon M. Lucas</author>
///     <site>http://woxserializer.sourceforge.net/</site>
/// </wox>
/// <wox>
///     <version>1.5</version>
///     <author>Steven M Lewis</author>
/// </wox>
/// <wox>
///     <version>2.0</version>
///     <author>George A Smith</author>
///     <svn>http://woxserializer.sourceforge.net/</svn>
///     <note>XML form for vs 2 is more compact and therefor incompatible with vs 1</note>
/// </wox>
/// </header>

namespace wox.serial
{
    public interface WoxHandler
    {
        Type GetNativeTypeFor( WoxHandlers pWoxHandlers, string pWoxType );

        string GetWoxTypeFor( WoxHandlers pWoxHandlers, Type pType, FieldInfo pField, bool pJustType );

        /// <summary>
        /// Return list of WoxTypes to Handle for ReadObject.  Null means it should be asked, empty means it handles none?
        /// </summary>
        string[] GetForReadObjectWoxTypeNames();

        bool WillReadObjectForWoxType( string pWoxType );

        object ReadObject( WoxHandlers pWoxHandlers, WoxReader pWoxReader, XMLreader pReader );

        void WriteObject( WoxHandlers pWoxHandlers, WoxWriter pWoxWriter, object pObject, FieldInfo pField, XMLwriter pWriter, bool pJustType );

        /// <summary>
        /// Return list of WoxTypes to Handle for ReadObject.  Null means it should be asked, empty means it handles none?
        /// </summary>
        string[] GetForParseFieldValueWoxTypeNames();

        bool WillParseFieldValueForWoxType( string pWoxType );

        object ParseFieldValue( string pFieldValue );

        /// <param name="pFieldValue">!null</param>
        /// <returns>null indicates FieldValue not supported by this Handler</returns>
        string CreateFieldValue( object pFieldValue );

        /// <summary>
        /// Always returns "false" unless
        ///     WillParseFieldValueForWoxType would have returned true &&
        ///     CreateFieldValue would have returned !null &&
        ///     CreateFieldValue would NEVER return a value with a space in it!
        /// </summary>
        bool WillFieldValueNeverHaveAnySpaces();

        object CreateArrayFor( Type pFieldElementType, string[] pValues );

        object GetNonNullDefaultValue();

        bool SupportsJustTypeWriting();
    }
}