/**

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS HEADER.

 *

 * Copyright 2013-2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 *

 * Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

 * Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

 *

 * The contents of this file are subject to the terms of either the GNU

 * General Public License Version 2 only ("GPL") or the Common

 * Development and Distribution License("CDDL") (collectively, the

 * "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the

 * License. You can obtain a copy of the License at

 * http://www.netbeans.org/cddl-gplv2.html

 * or nbbuild/licenses/CDDL-GPL-2-CP. See the License for the

 * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the

 * License.  When distributing the software, include this License Header

 * Notice in each file and include the License file at

 * nbbuild/licenses/CDDL-GPL-2-CP.  Oracle designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle in the GPL Version 2 section of the License file that

 * accompanied this code. If applicable, add the following below the

 * License Header, with the fields enclosed by brackets [] replaced by

 * your own identifying information:

 * "Portions Copyrighted [year] [name of copyright owner]"

 *

 * Contributor(s):

 *

 * The Original Software is NetBeans. The Initial Developer of the Original

 * Software is Oracle. Portions Copyright 2013-2014 Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

 *

 * If you wish your version of this file to be governed by only the CDDL

 * or only the GPL Version 2, indicate your decision by adding

 * "[Contributor] elects to include this software in this distribution

 * under the [CDDL or GPL Version 2] license." If you do not indicate a

 * single choice of license, a recipient has the option to distribute

 * your version of this file under either the CDDL, the GPL Version 2 or

 * to extend the choice of license to its licensees as provided above.

 * However, if you add GPL Version 2 code and therefore, elected the GPL

 * Version 2 license, then the option applies only if the new code is

 * made subject to such option by the copyright holder.

 */

package net.java.html.json;

import java.lang.annotation.Retention;

import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;

import java.lang.annotation.Target;

import java.util.List;

import org.netbeans.html.context.spi.Contexts;

import org.netbeans.html.json.spi.Technology;

/** Represents a property in a class defined with {@link Model} annotation.

 *

 * @author Jaroslav Tulach

 */

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.SOURCE)

@Target({})

public @interface Property {

    /** Name of the property. Will be used to define proper getter and setter

     * in the associated class.

     * 

     * @return valid java identifier

     */

    String name();

    /** Type of the property. Can either be primitive type (like <code>int.class</code>,

     * <code>double.class</code>, etc.), {@link String}, {@link Enum enum} or complex model

     * class (defined by {@link Model} property).

     * 

     * @return the class of the property

     */

    Class<?> type();

    /** Is this property an array of the {@link #type()} or a single value?

     * If the property is an array, only its getter (returning mutable {@link List} of

     * the boxed {@link #type()}) is generated.

     * 

     * @return true, if this property is supposed to represent an array of values

     */

    boolean array() default false;

    /** Can the value of the property be mutated without restriction or not.

     * If a property is defined as <em>not mutable</em>, it defines

     * semi-immutable value that can only be changed in construction time

     * before the object is passed to underlying {@link Technology}. 

     * Attempts to modify the object later yield {@link IllegalStateException}.

     *

     * Technologies may decide to represent such non-mutable

     * property in more effective way - for

     * example Knockout Java Bindings technology (with {@link Contexts.Id id} "ko4j")

     * uses plain JavaScript value (number, string, array, boolean) rather

     * than classical observable.

     *

     * @return false if the value cannot change after its <em>first use</em>

     * @since 1.3

     */

    boolean mutable() default true;

}