package org.msh.reports.datatable;

/**
 * Represent a column of the {@link DataTable} interface
 * 
 * @author Ricardo Memoria
 *
 */
public interface Column {

	/**
	 * Return the value of a given row
	 * @param index is the 0-based position of the row in the column
	 * @return the value of the row at the given position
	 */
	Object getValue(int index);

	/**
	 * Set the value of a row in the column
	 * @param index is the 0-based position of the row
	 * @param value is the value to be set in the row
	 */
	void setValue(int index, Object value);
	
	/**
	 * Get a sequence of cell values of the column from a list of row positions
	 * @param rowindexes is an array containing a sequence of row positions (0-based index)
	 * indicating the rows to return its values
	 * @return array containing the values of each row
	 */
	Object[] getValues(int[] rowindexes);

	/**
	 * Change the values of a group of rows in the column
	 * @param rowindexes is an integer array containing the 0-based position of
	 * the rows to set values
	 * @param values is an array of objects to set the row values
	 */
	void setValues(int[] rowindexes, Object[] values);

	/**
	 * Return the 0-based position of the column in the list of columns
	 * @return the index of the column
	 */
	int getIndex();

}