001/*
002 *                    BioJava development code
003 *
004 * This code may be freely distributed and modified under the
005 * terms of the GNU Lesser General Public Licence.  This should
006 * be distributed with the code.  If you do not have a copy,
007 * see:
008 *
009 *      http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html
010 *
011 * Copyright for this code is held jointly by the individual
012 * authors.  These should be listed in @author doc comments.
013 *
014 * For more information on the BioJava project and its aims,
015 * or to join the biojava-l mailing list, visit the home page
016 * at:
017 *
018 *      http://www.biojava.org/
019 *
020 */
021
022/*
023 *    SymbolPropertyTableDB.java
024 */
025package org.biojava.bio.proteomics.aaindex;
026
027import java.util.Set;
028
029import org.biojava.bio.seq.db.IllegalIDException;
030import org.biojava.bio.symbol.SymbolPropertyTable;
031
032/**
033 * Database of {@link org.biojava.bio.symbol.SymbolPropertyTable} objects.
034 * @author <a href="mailto:Martin.Szugat@GMX.net">Martin Szugat</a>
035 * @version $Revision$
036 */
037public interface SymbolPropertyTableDB {
038
039    /**
040     * Returns an iterator over 
041     * {@link org.biojava.bio.symbol.SymbolPropertyTable} objects.
042     * @return a new iterator
043     */
044     SymbolPropertyTableIterator tableIterator();
045    
046    /**
047     * Returns the number of symbol property tables in the database. 
048     * @return the number of tables
049     */
050     int numTables();
051    
052    /**
053     * Returns the set of unique table names.
054     * @return a set containing strings
055     */
056     Set names();
057    
058    /**
059     * Returns the table with the specified name.
060     * @param name the 
061     * {@linkplain org.biojava.bio.symbol.SymbolPropertyTable#getName() name 
062     * of the table}
063     * @return the specified table
064     * @throws IllegalIDException if no symbol property table with the specified name could be found.
065     * @throws NullPointerException if <code>name</code> is 
066     * <code>null</code>.
067     */
068     SymbolPropertyTable table(String name)
069    throws IllegalIDException, NullPointerException;
070}