<?php

/**
 * This file is part of the Propel package.
 * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
 * file that was distributed with this source code.
 *
 * @license    MIT License
 */

/**
 * The generic interface to a name generation algorithm.
 *
 * @author     Hans Lellelid <hans@xmpl.org> (Propel)
 * @author     Daniel Rall <dlr@finemaltcoding.com> (Torque)
 * @author     Byron Foster <byron_foster@yahoo.com> (Torque)
 * @version    $Revision$
 * @package    propel.generator.model
 */
interface NameGenerator
{

    /**
     * The character used by most implementations as the separator
     * between name elements.
     */
    const STD_SEPARATOR_CHAR = '_';

    /**
     * Traditional method for converting schema table and column names
     * to PHP names.  The <code>CONV_METHOD_XXX</code> constants
     * define how names for columns and tables in the database schema
     * will be converted to PHP source names.
     *
     * @see        PhpNameGenerator::underscoreMethod()
     */
    const CONV_METHOD_UNDERSCORE = "underscore";

    /**
     * Heavier method for converting schema table and column names
     * to PHP names. Similar to {@link #CONV_METHOD_UNDERSCORE} but
     * this one will pass only letters and numbers through and will
     * use as separator any character that is not a letter or a number
     * inside the string to be converted. The <code>CONV_METHOD_XXX</code>
     * constants define how names for columns and tales in the
     * database schema will be converted to PHP source names.
     */
    const CONV_METHOD_CLEAN = "clean";

    /**
     * Similar to {@link #CONV_METHOD_UNDERSCORE} except nothing is
     * converted to lowercase.
     *
     * @see        PhpNameGenerator::phpnameMethod()
     */
    const CONV_METHOD_PHPNAME = "phpname";

    /**
     * Specifies no modification when converting from a schema column
     * or table name to a PHP name.
     */
    const CONV_METHOD_NOCHANGE = "nochange";

    /**
     * Given a list of <code>String</code> objects, implements an
     * algorithm which produces a name.
     *
     * @param string[] $inputs Inputs used to generate a name.
     *
     * @return string          The generated name.
     * @throws EngineException
     */
    public function generateName($inputs);
}
