package org.codehaus.xfire.aegis.type;

import java.beans.PropertyDescriptor;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;

import javax.xml.namespace.QName;

/**
 * @author <a href="mailto:dan@envoisolutions.com">Dan Diephouse</a>
 */
public interface TypeCreator
{
    /**
     * Get the mapped name of a method parameter.
     * @param m
     * @param index
     * @return
     */
    QName getElementName(Method m, int index);
    
    Type createType(Method m, int index);
    Type createType(PropertyDescriptor pd);
    Type createType(Field f);
    Type createType(Class clazz);
    
    /**
     * this function allowed to construct a aegis Type from an interface 
     * java.lang.reflect.Type.
     * this function is added to handle geniricity such as 
     * Map<String, List<String>.
     * @param type
     * @return
     */
    Type createType(java.lang.reflect.Type type);
    
    void setTypeMapping(TypeMapping typeMapping);
}