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Hibernate definition of the Java Persistence 2.0 (JSR 317) API.
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/*
 * Copyright (c) 2008, 2009 Sun Microsystems. All rights reserved.
 *
 * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
 * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0
 * which accompanies this distribution.
 * The Eclipse Public License is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 * and the Eclipse Distribution License is available at
 * http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php.
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.0 - Version 2.0 (October 1, 2009)
 *     Specification available from http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317
 */

// $Id: Expression.java 20957 2011-06-13 09:58:51Z stliu $

package javax.persistence.criteria;

import java.util.Collection;

/**
 * Type for query expressions.
 *
 * @param  the type of the expression
 * @since Java Persistence 2.0
 */
public interface Expression extends Selection {
	/**
	 * Create a predicate to test whether the expression is null.
	 *
	 * @return predicate testing whether the expression is null
	 */
	Predicate isNull();

	/**
	 * Create a predicate to test whether the expression is
	 * not null.
	 *
	 * @return predicate testing whether the expression is not null
	 */
	Predicate isNotNull();

	/**
	 * Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
	 * of the argument list.
	 *
	 * @param values values to be tested against
	 *
	 * @return predicate testing for membership
	 */
	Predicate in(Object... values);

	/**
	 * Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
	 * of the argument list.
	 *
	 * @param values expressions to be tested against
	 *
	 * @return predicate testing for membership
	 */
	Predicate in(Expression... values);

	/**
	 * Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
	 * of the collection.
	 *
	 * @param values collection of values to be tested against
	 *
	 * @return predicate testing for membership
	 */
	Predicate in(Collection values);

	/**
	 * Create a predicate to test whether the expression is a member
	 * of the collection.
	 *
	 * @param values expression corresponding to collection to be
	 * tested against
	 *
	 * @return predicate testing for membership
	 */
	Predicate in(Expression> values);

	/**
	 * Perform a typecast upon the expression, returning a new
	 * expression object.
	 * This method does not cause type conversion:
	 * the runtime type is not changed.
	 * Warning: may result in a runtime failure.
	 *
	 * @param type intended type of the expression
	 *
	 * @return new expression of the given type
	 */
	 Expression as(Class type);
}