package jalview.ws2.operations;

import jalview.ws.params.ParamDatastoreI;
import jalview.ws2.MenuEntryProviderI;

/**
 * Operation represents an action which can be performed with a (web)service or
 * calculator. Examples of operations are multiple sequence alignment or
 * sequence annotation. There should be one Operation implementation for each
 * operation that Jalview can perform on sequences or alignments. The concrete
 * implementations may be further parameterized to alter the functionality (e.g.
 * making the operation interactive) or restrict input data (e.g. limit to
 * proteins only).
 * 
 * @author mmwarowny
 *
 */
public interface Operation
{
  /**
   * Get the name of the operation. Typically fetched from the server.
   * 
   * @return operation name
   */
  public String getName();

  /**
   * Get the description of the operation. Typically fetched from the server.
   * 
   * @return operation description
   */
  public String getDescription();

  /**
   * Get the name of the category that the operation falls into. Used to group
   * the operations under the web services menu.
   * 
   * @return category name
   */
  public String getTypeName();

  /**
   * Get the hostname/url of the server which this operation is delegated to.
   * Typically fetched from the accompanying web service instance.
   * 
   * @return server url
   */
  public String getHostName();

  /**
   * Check if the operation has user-customizable input parameters.
   * 
   * @return if has parameters
   */
  public boolean hasParameters();

  /**
   * Returns parameter datastore for this operations containing input parameters
   * and available presets.
   * 
   * @return parameter datastore of the operation
   */
  public ParamDatastoreI getParamStore();

  /**
   * @return minimum accepted number of sequences
   */
  public int getMinSequences();

  /**
   * @return maximum accepted number of sequences
   */
  public int getMaxSequences();

  /**
   * @return whether gaps should be included
   */
  public boolean canSubmitGaps();

  /**
   * @return whether works with protein sequences
   */
  public boolean isProteinOperation();

  /**
   * @return whether works with nucleotide sequences
   */
  public boolean isNucleotideOperation();

  /**
   * @return whether should be run interactively
   */
  public boolean isInteractive();

  /**
   * Get the menu builder for this operation which will be used to construct the
   * web services menu. The builder will be given the parent menu entry which it
   * should attach menu items to and the current align frame.
   * 
   * @return menu entry builder instance
   */
  public MenuEntryProviderI getMenuBuilder();

  /**
   * @return whether this operation is alignment analysis
   */
  public boolean isAlignmentAnalysis();

  /**
   * @return whether non-standatds symbols should be filtered out
   */
  public boolean getFilterNonStandardSymbols();

  /**
   * @return whether it needs aligned sequences
   */
  public boolean getNeedsAlignedSequences();

}