<?php

/*
 * Copyright 2011 Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

namespace Metadata;

/**
 * Interface for Metadata Factory implementations.
 *
 * @author Johannes M. Schmitt <schmittjoh@gmail.com>
 */
interface MetadataFactoryInterface
{
    /**
     * Returns the gathered metadata for the given class name.
     *
     * If the drivers return instances of MergeableClassMetadata, these will be
     * merged prior to returning. Otherwise, all metadata for the inheritance
     * hierarchy will be returned as ClassHierarchyMetadata unmerged.
     *
     * If no metadata is available, null is returned.
     *
     * @param string $className
     *
     * @return ClassHierarchyMetadata|MergeableClassMetadata|null
     */
    public function getMetadataForClass($className);
}