obol/lang/ReturnValue.java

package obol.lang;

/** This describes the returnvalue interface.
 * This is meant to be used read-only.
 * @version $Id: ReturnValue.java,v 1.1 2007/03/16 16:22:09 perm Exp $
 */
public interface ReturnValue {
    /** Return this symbol's name.
     */
    public String getName();
    

    /** Return this symbol's value.
     */
    public Object getValue();

    /** Returns a string containing the Obol type associated with this
     * symbol.
     * This is syntactic sugar for
     * <tt>(String)getProperty(SymbolProperties.Type)</tt>.
     * @return String containing type associated with object's value, or
     * <tt>null</tt> if type cannot (yet) be determined.
     */
    public String getType();

    /** Retrieve a named property entry of this Symbol.
     */
    public Object getProperty(String name);


    /** See if a given property exists.
     */
    public boolean existProperty(String name);


    /** debug method, might return null. */
    public String dumpValue();
}