001/**
002The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1 
003(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
004You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ 
005Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, 
006WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the 
007specific language governing rights and limitations under the License. 
008
009The Original Code is "Pointer.java".  Description: 
010"A Pointer is a placeholder used in parsing traditionally encoded messages 
011  (which do not explicitly identify segment groups)" 
012
013The Initial Developer of the Original Code is University Health Network. Copyright (C) 
0142001.  All Rights Reserved. 
015
016Contributor(s): ______________________________________. 
017
018Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms of the 
019GNU General Public License (the "GPL"), in which case the provisions of the GPL are 
020applicable instead of those above.  If you wish to allow use of your version of this 
021file only under the terms of the GPL and not to allow others to use your version 
022of this file under the MPL, indicate your decision by deleting  the provisions above 
023and replace  them with the notice and other provisions required by the GPL License.  
024If you do not delete the provisions above, a recipient may use your version of 
025this file under either the MPL or the GPL. 
026
027*/
028
029package ca.uhn.hl7v2.parser;
030
031import ca.uhn.hl7v2.HL7Exception;
032import ca.uhn.hl7v2.model.Group;
033
034/**
035 * <p>A Pointer is a placeholder used in parsing traditionally encoded messages 
036 * (which do not explicitly identify segment groups).  Implementations of Pointer 
037 * include SegmentPointer, which "points" to a Segment slot.  This pointer can 
038 * exist whether or not the underlying Segment object has been created.  There is 
039 * only one pointer per slot - multiple repetitions are accessed through the 
040 * same pointer.  <code>prepNewInstance</code> is used to create a new rep.  
041 * <code>setSegment(String segment)</code> is responsible for parsing the given 
042 * segment string <i>into</i> the current rep of the underlying Segment.  Similarly 
043 * there is a subclass called GroupPointer that points to a Group slot.  
044 * GroupPointer's <code>setSegment(...)</code> method just forwards the request to 
045 * it's children (which are GroupPointers and SegmentPointers). </p>
046 * @author Bryan Tripp (bryan_tripp@sourceforge.net)
047 * @deprecated
048 */
049public abstract class Pointer {
050
051    public static final int FILL_FAILED_WRONG_SEGMENT = 0;
052    public static final int FILL_FAILED_FULL = 1;
053    public static final int FILL_OK = 2;
054    public static final int FILL_FAILED_OUT_OF_ORDER = 3;
055
056    protected Group parent;
057    protected int position;
058    protected boolean repeating;
059    protected EncodingCharacters encodingChars;
060
061    /**
062     * Parses the given String, which must contain a single traditionally encoded 
063     * message segment, into the current repetition of the message Structure 
064     * underlying this Pointer.  
065     * @param segment the segment to parse 
066     * @param correctOrder false if this segment should not actually be parsed because the 
067     *      current location precedes the location of a segment that has already been 
068     *      parsed.  In this case, the return value should be either FILL_FAILED_FULL, 
069     *      FILL_FAILED_WRONG_SEGMENT, or FILL_FAILED_OUT_OF_ORDER, but the segment should not 
070     *      be parsed.  
071     * @return an int indicating the success or flavours of failure of the request
072     */
073    public abstract int setSegment(String segment, boolean correctOrder) throws HL7Exception;
074
075}