/*!
  @header FTPersistentSet
  @abstract Module of FT
 
  @availability OS X, GNUstep
  @copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  
  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
  License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
  version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

  This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
  Lesser General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
  License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301 USA

  <pre>
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Modification history

  30.03.06 ola     initial version
  23.08.06 ola     license changed
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  </pre>
*/

#if !defined(__FTPersistentSet_H)
#define __FTPersistentSet_H

#include <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#include <Encore/Encore.h>
#include <FT/FTObject.h>
#include <BDB/BDB.h>


/*!
 * @class FTPersistentSet
 * @abstract Utility class which uses a BDB database in order to manage a
 *   set of objects in the database. Before using a set either 
 *   createDBUsingDataFile or openDBUsingDataFile has to be called.
 * @description TODO:The currently implemented version works without any caching
 *   althought this might be <b>very</b> helpful here. <p/>
 *   So operations evaluating all entries within a set may require
 *   iteration over all database records thus they are very expensive
 *   at present. Examples of such operations: count, member
 */
@protocol FTPersistentSet <FTObject>

/*!
 * @method addObject
 * @abstract Adds a object to the set. This object must implement
 * NSCoding.
 * @result self
 */
- addObject: (id) anObject;


/*! 
 * @method closeDB
 * @abstract closes the underlying database. After this call the 
 *   object may not be used any more.
 */
- (void) closeDB;


/*!
 * @method containsObject
 * @abstract This is an expensive operation at present
 * @result YES if the specified object is to be found in the set.
 */
- (BOOL) containsObject: (id) anObject;


/*!
 * @method count
 * @abstract Expensive operation used to determine the number of elements
 *   in this set
 * @description TODO: optimize this operation
 * @result number of elements in the current set
 */
- (unsigned) count;


/*!
 * @method createDBUsingDataFile
 * @abstract Creates a persistent set using the specified file name as
 *   data file
 * @param aFilename fully qualified name of datafile to use for the
 *   set
 * @result self
 */
- createDBUsingDataFile: (NSString *) aFilename;


/*!
 * @method iterator
 * @abstract Returns an iterator over all members of this set. This is an
 *   expensive operation at present
 * @result iterator over all elements of the set
 */
- (id <ECIterator>) iterator;


/*!
 * @method openDBUsingDataFile
 * @abstract Opens a persistent set using the specified file name as
 *   data file. Call failes if file does not exist.
 * @param aFilename fully qualified name of datafile to use for the
 *   set
 * @result self
 */
- openDBUsingDataFile: (NSString *) aFilename;


/*!
 * @method removeObject
 * @abstract removes the specified object from the set. Operation is ignored
 *   the object could no be found within the set.
 * @result self
 */
- removeObject: (id) anObject;
@end

#endif