001/**
002The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1 
003(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
004You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ 
005Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, 
006WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the 
007specific language governing rights and limitations under the License. 
008
009The Original Code is "Composite.java".  Description: 
010"Represents the category of HL7 data types that contain more than one component (e.g" 
011
012The Initial Developer of the Original Code is University Health Network. Copyright (C) 
0132001.  All Rights Reserved. 
014
015Contributor(s): ______________________________________. 
016
017Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms of the 
018GNU General Public License (the "GPL"), in which case the provisions of the GPL are 
019applicable instead of those above.  If you wish to allow use of your version of this 
020file only under the terms of the GPL and not to allow others to use your version 
021of this file under the MPL, indicate your decision by deleting  the provisions above 
022and replace  them with the notice and other provisions required by the GPL License.  
023If you do not delete the provisions above, a recipient may use your version of 
024this file under either the MPL or the GPL. 
025
026*/
027
028package ca.uhn.hl7v2.model;
029
030/**
031 * <p>Represents the category of HL7 data types that contain more than one component (e.g. CE).
032 * Implementing classes (i.e. composite data types) should initialize their components
033 * either when they are initialized or when they are first accessed.  Only leaf values
034 * (values of primitives) should ever be returned as null.</p>
035 * @author Bryan Tripp (bryan_tripp@sourceforge.net)
036 */
037public interface Composite extends Type {
038
039  /**
040   * Returns an array containing the components of this field.
041   *
042   * @return array of components of this composite type
043   */
044  public Type[] getComponents();
045
046  /**
047   * Returns the single component of this composite at the specified position (starting at 0).
048   *
049   * @param number index of the component to be retrieved (zero-based)
050   * @return component at this index
051   * @throws DataTypeException
052   */
053  public Type getComponent(int number) throws DataTypeException;
054
055}