/*
 * @(#)Predicate.java	1.6 05/11/17
 *
 * Copyright 2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 */

package javax.sql.rowset;

import javax.sql.*;
import java.sql.*;

/**
 * The standard interface that provides the framework for all 
 * <code>FilteredRowSet</code> objects to describe their filters.
 * <p>
 * <h3>1.0 Background</h3>
 * The <code>Predicate</code> interface is a standard interface that
 * applications can implement to define the filter they wish to apply to a 
 * a <code>FilteredRowSet</code> object. A <code>FilteredRowSet</code>
 * object consumes implementations of this interface and enforces the
 * constraints defined in the implementation of the method <code>evaluate</code>.
 * A <code>FilteredRowSet</code> object enforces the filter constraints in a 
 * bi-directional manner: It outputs only rows that are within
 * the constraints of the filter; and conversely, it inserts, modifies, or updates
 * only rows that are within the constraints of the filter.
 * 
 * <h3>2.0 Implementation Guidelines</h3>
 * In order to supply a predicate for the <code>FilteredRowSet</code>.
 * this interface must be implemented.  At this time, the JDBC RowSet 
 * Implementations (JSR-114) does not specify any standard filters definitions. 
 * By specifying a standard means and mechanism for a range of filters to be
 * defined and deployed with both the reference and vendor implementations 
 * of the <code>FilteredRowSet</code> interface, this allows for a flexible
 * and application motivated implementations of <code>Predicate</code> to emerge.
 * <p>
 * A sample implementation would look something like this:
 * <pre>
 * <code>
 *    public class Range implements Predicate {
 *
 *       private Object lo[];
 *       private Object hi[];
 *       private int idx[];
 *
 *       public Range(Object[] lo, Object[] hi, int[] idx) {
 *          this.lo = lo;
 *          this.hi = hi;
 *          this.idx = idx;
 *       }
 *
 *      public boolean evaluate(RowSet rs) {
 *          CachedRowSet crs = (CachedRowSet)rs;
 *          boolean bool1,bool2;           
 *       
 *          // Check the present row determine if it lies
 *          // within the filtering criteria. 
 *      
 *          for (int i = 0; i < idx.length; i++) {
 *        
 *	        if ((rs.getObject(idx[i]) >= lo[i]) && 
 *                  (rs.getObject(idx[i]) >= hi[i]) { 
 *	            bool1 = true; // within filter constraints
 *          } else {
 *            bool2 = true; // outside of filter constraints             
 *          } 
 *      }
 *      
 *      if (bool2) {
 *         return false;
 *      } else {
 *         return true;
 *      }
 *  }          
 * </code>
 * </pre>
 * <P>
 * The example above implements a simple range predicate. Note, that 
 * implementations should but are not required to provider <code>String</code>
 * and integer index based constructors to provide for JDBC RowSet Implementation
 * applications that use both column identification conventions.
 *
 * @author Jonathan Bruce, Amit Handa
 *
 */

 // <h3>3.0 FilteredRowSet Internals</h3>
 // internalNext, Frist, Last. Discuss guidelines on how to approach this
 // and cite examples in reference implementations.
public interface Predicate {
    /**
     * This method is typically called a <code>FilteredRowSet</code> object
     * internal methods (not public) that control the <code>RowSet</code> object's
     * cursor moving  from row to the next. In addition, if this internal method 
     * moves the cursor onto a row that has been deleted, the internal method will 
     * continue to ove the cursor until a valid row is found. 
     *
     * @return <code>true</code> if there are more rows in the filter; 
     *     <code>false</code> otherwise
     */