/*
 * Copyright 2002-2010 the original author or authors.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.springframework.expression;

import java.util.List;

/**
 * Expressions are executed in an evaluation context. It is in this context that references
 * are resolved when encountered during expression evaluation.
 *
 * <p>There is a default implementation of the EvaluationContext,
 * {@link org.springframework.expression.spel.support.StandardEvaluationContext}
 * that can be extended, rather than having to implement everything.
 *
 * @author Andy Clement
 * @author Juergen Hoeller
 * @since 3.0
 */
public interface EvaluationContext {

	/**
	 * @return the default root context object against which unqualified properties/methods/etc
	 * should be resolved. This can be overridden when evaluating an expression.
	 */
	TypedValue getRootObject();

	/**
	 * @return a list of resolvers that will be asked in turn to locate a constructor
	 */
	List<ConstructorResolver> getConstructorResolvers();

	/**
	 * @return a list of resolvers that will be asked in turn to locate a method
	 */
	List<MethodResolver> getMethodResolvers();

	/**
	 * @return a list of accessors that will be asked in turn to read/write a property
	 */
	List<PropertyAccessor> getPropertyAccessors();

	/**
	 * @return a type locator that can be used to find types, either by short or fully qualified name.
	 */
	TypeLocator getTypeLocator();

	/**
	 * @return a type converter that can convert (or coerce) a value from one type to another.
	 */
	TypeConverter getTypeConverter();

	/**
	 * @return a type comparator for comparing pairs of objects for equality.
	 */
	TypeComparator getTypeComparator();

	/**
	 * @return an operator overloader that may support mathematical operations
	 * between more than the standard set of types
	 */
	OperatorOverloader getOperatorOverloader();

	/**
	 * @return a bean resolver that can look up beans by name
	 */
	BeanResolver getBeanResolver();

	/**
	 * Set a named variable within this evaluation context to a specified value.
	 * @param name variable to set
	 * @param value value to be placed in the variable
	 */
	void setVariable(String name, Object value);

	/**
	 * Look up a named variable within this evaluation context.
	 * @param name variable to lookup
	 * @return the value of the variable
	 */
	Object lookupVariable(String name);

}
