/*
 * Hibernate, Relational Persistence for Idiomatic Java
 *
 * License: GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 2.1 or later.
 * See the lgpl.txt file in the root directory or <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html>.
 */
package org.hibernate.query.criteria.internal;

import javax.persistence.criteria.Path;
import javax.persistence.metamodel.Attribute;

Implementation contract for the JPA Path interface. 
Author:
Steve Ebersole/**
 * Implementation contract for the JPA {@link Path} interface.
 *
 * @author Steve Ebersole
 */
public interface PathImplementor<X> extends ExpressionImplementor<X>, Path<X>, PathSource<X>, Renderable {
	
Retrieve reference to the attribute this path represents.
Returns:
The metamodel attribute./**
	 * Retrieve reference to the attribute this path represents.
	 *
	 * @return The metamodel attribute.
	 */
	public Attribute<?, ?> getAttribute();

	
Defines handling for the JPA 2.1 TREAT down-casting feature.
Params:
treatAsType – The type to treat the path as.
Type parameters:
<T> – The parameterized type representation of treatAsType.
Returns:
The properly typed view of this path./**
	 * Defines handling for the JPA 2.1 TREAT down-casting feature.
	 *
	 * @param treatAsType The type to treat the path as.
	 * @param <T> The parameterized type representation of treatAsType.
	 *
	 * @return The properly typed view of this path.
	 */
	public <T extends X> PathImplementor<T> treatAs(Class<T> treatAsType);
}