JAL-2526 Sequence.findPositions to get residue positions for column

[jalview.git] / src / jalview / datamodel / SequenceI.java

diff --git a/src/jalview/datamodel/SequenceI.java b/src/jalview/datamodel/SequenceI.java
index e4be5ee..163a4a0 100755 (executable)
--- a/src/jalview/datamodel/SequenceI.java
+++ b/src/jalview/datamodel/SequenceI.java
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ public interface SequenceI extends ASequenceI
   public String getDescription();
 
   /**
-   * Return the alignment column for a sequence position
+   * Return the alignment column (from 1..) for a sequence position
    * 
    * @param pos
    *          lying from start to end
@@ -201,6 +201,30 @@ public interface SequenceI extends ASequenceI
   public int findPosition(int i);
 
   /**
+   * Returns the range of sequence positions included in the given alignment
+   * position range. If no positions are included (the range is entirely gaps),
+   * then returns null.
+   * 
+   * <pre>
+   * Example: 
+   * >Seq/8-13
+   * ABC--DE-F
+   * findPositions(1, 4) returns Range(9, 9) // B only
+   * findPositions(3, 4) returns null // all gaps
+   * findPositions(2, 6) returns Range(10, 12) // CDE
+   * findPositions(3, 7) returns Range(11,12) // DE
+   * </pre>
+   * 
+   * @param fromCol
+   *          first aligned column position (base 0, inclusive)
+   * @param toCol
+   *          last aligned column position (base 0, inclusive)
+   * 
+   * @return
+   */
+  public Range findPositions(int fromCol, int toCol);
+
+  /**
    * Returns an int array where indices correspond to each residue in the
    * sequence and the element value gives its position in the alignment
    *