/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 1998, 2010 Oracle. 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:
 *     Oracle - initial API and implementation from Oracle TopLink
 ******************************************************************************/  
package org.eclipse.persistence.platform.xml;


// JDK imports
import java.net.URL;

/**
 * A schema reference is used to access a schema in order to validate a
 * document.
 */
public interface XMLSchemaReference {
    public static final int COMPLEX_TYPE = 1;
    public static final int SIMPLE_TYPE = 2;
    public static final int ELEMENT = 3;
    public static final int GROUP = 5;

    /**
     * Returns the path to be traversed for validation purposes.
     *
     * @return a string represented the path to be traversed
     */
    public String getSchemaContext();

    /**
     * Indicates if the schema reference references a simple type definition,
     * complex type definition, element or group
     *
     * @return COMPLEX_TYPE=1, SIMPLE_TYPE=2, ELEMENT=3, GROUP=5
     */
    public int getType();

    /**
     * A URL which referenes the Schema.
     *
     * @return the schema URL
     */
    public URL getURL();
}
