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#ifndef __com_sun_star_util_XAtomServer_idl__
#define __com_sun_star_util_XAtomServer_idl__

#ifndef __com_sun_star_uno_XInterface_idl__
#include <com/sun/star/uno/XInterface.idl>
#endif

#ifndef __com_sun_star_util_AtomDescription_idl__
#include <com/sun/star/util/AtomDescription.idl>
#endif

#ifndef __com_sun_star_util_AtomClassRequest_idl__
#include <com/sun/star/util/AtomClassRequest.idl>
#endif


module com
{
module sun
{
module star
{
module util
{

/** an interface to map between <i>string</i>s and <i>id</i>s

   <p>a note on atoms:<br>
   Atoms are abbreviations for strings.
   When a string gets registered, it is assigned a numeric id
   so that said string can always be referred to by this id.
   This way strings have to be transported only once over remote connections.
   Valid ids are (in this implementation) non zero, signed 32 bit values.
   An atom of 0 means that the string in question is not registered</p>
 
   <p>Additionally there is the abstraction of atom class:<br>
   Atoms are grouped into classes, so that an id can be assigned
   to multiple strings, depending on the class context. The main
   advantage of this is that atoms in one class may be kept
   to small numbers, so that bandwidth can be reduced by sending
   the atoms only as 16 bit values. Note that it is up to the user in this
   case to handle overflows.</p>
*/

published interface XAtomServer : com::sun::star::uno::XInterface
{
    /** returns a whole atom class

        @param atomClass
            which class to return

        @returns
            the descriptions for all atoms of class <code>atomClass</code>
    */
    sequence< AtomDescription > getClass( [in] long atomClass );
    /** returns multiple atom classes

        @param atomClasses
            which classes to return

        @returns
            the descriptions for all atoms of the requested classes
    */
    sequence< sequence< AtomDescription > > getClasses( [in] sequence< long > atomClasses );
    /** returns the strings for an arbitrary amount of atoms of multiple classes

        @param atoms
            describes which strings to return

        @returns
            the strings for the requested atoms
    */
    sequence< string > getAtomDescriptions( [in] sequence< AtomClassRequest > atoms );

    //-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    /** returns the atoms that have been registered to a class after an
        already known atom

        <p>Hint to implementor: using ascending atoms is the easiest way
        to decide, which atoms are recent.</p>

        @param atomClass
            the class in question

        @param atom
            the last known atom

        @returns
            all atom description that have been added to class
            <code>atomClass</code> after <code>atom</code>
    */
    sequence< AtomDescription > getRecentAtoms( [in] long atomClass, [in] long atom );

    //-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    /** registers or searches for a string

        @param atomClass
            the class of atoms in question

        @param description
            the string in question

        @param create 
            if true a new atom will be created for an unknown string
            else the invalid atom (0) will be returned for an unknown string

        @returns
            the atom for the string <code>description</code>
    */
    long getAtom( [in] long atomClass, [in] string description, [in] boolean create );
};


}; // module util
}; // module star
}; // module sun
}; // module com


#endif
