//
// ********************************************************************
// * DISCLAIMER                                                       *
// *                                                                  *
// * The following disclaimer summarizes all the specific disclaimers *
// * of contributors to this software. The specific disclaimers,which *
// * govern, are listed with their locations in:                      *
// *   http://cern.ch/geant4/license                                  *
// *                                                                  *
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// * institutes,nor the agencies providing financial support for this *
// * work  make  any representation or  warranty, express or implied, *
// * regarding  this  software system or assume any liability for its *
// * use.                                                             *
// *                                                                  *
// * This  code  implementation is the  intellectual property  of the *
// * GEANT4 collaboration.                                            *
// * By copying,  distributing  or modifying the Program (or any work *
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//
// -*- C++ -*-
// AID-GENERATED
// =========================================================================
// This class was generated by AID - Abstract Interface Definition          
// DO NOT MODIFY, but use the org.freehep.aid.Aid utility to regenerate it. 
// =========================================================================
#ifndef AIDA_IANNOTATION_H
#define AIDA_IANNOTATION_H 1

//  This file is part of the AIDA library
//  Copyright (C) 2002 by the AIDA team.  All rights reserved.
//  This library is free software and under the terms of the
//  GNU Library General Public License described in the LGPL.txt 

#include <string>

  /**
   * The list of the commonly accepted keys.
   *
   */
#define titleKey "Title"

namespace AIDA {

/**
 * The annotation holds arbitrary information represented with (key,value) pairs
 * of strings. A sticky bit is associated to every item to protect it (or not)
 * from a reset operation.
 * 
 * @author The AIDA team (http://aida.freehep.org/)
 * 
 */

class IAnnotation {

public: 
    /// Destructor.
    virtual ~IAnnotation() { /* nop */; }

  /**
   * Add a key/value pair with a given sticky flag.
   * If key alredy exists, override its value ?
   * @param key    The key to be added.
   * @param value  The key's value.
   * @param sticky The key's sticky flag. If <code>true</code> the item will
   *               not be removed when the method reset or removeItem are invoked.
   *               The default value for the sticky flag is <code>false</code>.
   * @return false If the key already exists.
   *
   */
    virtual bool addItem(const std::string & key, const std::string & value, bool sticky = false) = 0;

  /**
   * Remove the item indicated by a given key.
   * @param key The key to be removed. If the key is flagged as "sticky" it
   *            will not be removed.
   * @return false If the key is sticky.
   *
   */
    virtual bool removeItem(const std::string & key) = 0;

  /**
   * Retrieve the value for a given key.
   * @param key The key.
   * @return    The corresponding value.
   *
   */
    virtual const std::string & value(const std::string & key) const = 0;

  /**
   * Set the value for a given key.  
   * @param key   The key whose vale is to be changed.
   * @param value The new value.
   *
   */
    virtual void setValue(const std::string & key, const std::string & value) = 0;

  /**
   * Set the sticky flag for a given key.
   * @param key    The key whose stick flag is to be set.
   * @param sticky The new sticky flag.
   *
   */
    virtual void setSticky(const std::string & key, bool sticky) = 0;

  /**
   * Get the size of the IAnnotation, i.e. the number of keys contained in it.
   * @return The size of the IAnnotation.
   *
   */
    virtual int size() const = 0;

  /**
   * Get the key at a given position within the IAnnotation.
   * @param index The key's position within the IAnnotation.
   * @return      The corresponding key.
   *
   */
    virtual const std::string & key(int index) const = 0;

  /**
   * Get the value at a given position within the IAnnotation.
   * @param index The value's position within the IAnnotation.
   * @return      The corresponding value.
   *
   */
    virtual const std::string & value(int index) const = 0;

  /**
   * Remove all the non-sticky items.
   *
   */
    virtual void reset() = 0;
}; // class
}; // namespace AIDA
#endif /* ifndef AIDA_IANNOTATION_H */