/*
 * JasperReports - Free Java Reporting Library.
 * Copyright (C) 2001 - 2009 Jaspersoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 * http://www.jaspersoft.com
 *
 * Unless you have purchased a commercial license agreement from Jaspersoft,
 * the following license terms apply:
 *
 * This program is part of JasperReports.
 *
 * JasperReports 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 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * JasperReports 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 JasperReports. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
package net.sf.jasperreports.engine;

import java.util.Set;

/**
 * A generic print element.
 * 
 * <p>
 * Such an element has {@link #getGenericType() a type} and includes
 * a set of parameters.
 * Export handlers need to registered for the element's type and they are
 * responsible for producing export output for the element.
 * 
 * @author Lucian Chirita (lucianc@users.sourceforge.net)
 * @version $Id: JRGenericPrintElement.java 3033 2009-08-27 11:46:22Z teodord $
 * @see JRGenericElement
 */
public interface JRGenericPrintElement extends JRPrintElement
{

	/**
	 * Returns the type of this element.
	 * 
	 * @return the element type
	 */
	JRGenericElementType getGenericType();

	/**
	 * Returns the set of parameter names for this element.
	 * 
	 * @return the set of parameter names (as <code>String</code>s).
	 */
	Set getParameterNames();
	
	/**
	 * Determines whether the element includes a parameter having a given name.
	 * 
	 * @param name the parameter name
	 * @return whether a parameter having the specified name exists in the element
	 */
	boolean hasParameter(String name);
	
	/**
	 * Returns the value of a parameter.
	 * 
	 * @param name the parameter name
	 * @return the parameter value, or <code>null</code> if a parameter by
	 * the specified name does not exist.
	 */
	Object getParameterValue(String name);

	/**
	 * Sets a parameter value.
	 * 
	 * @param name the parameter name
	 * @param value the parameter value
	 */
	void setParameterValue(String name, Object value);
	
}
