2009-06-11 Mark Doffman <mark.doffman@codethink.co.uk>

[platform/core/uifw/at-spi2-atk.git] / idl / Accessibility_Hyperlink.idl

diff --git a/idl/Accessibility_Hyperlink.idl b/idl/Accessibility_Hyperlink.idl
index 95697cb..90eb3bd 100644 (file)
--- a/idl/Accessibility_Hyperlink.idl
+++ b/idl/Accessibility_Hyperlink.idl
@@ -24,19 +24,93 @@
 
 module Accessibility {
 
+  /**
+   * Instances of Hyperlink are returned by Hypertext objects, and are
+   * the means by which end users and clients interact with linked, and in
+   * some cases embedded, content.  Hyperlinks may have multiple "anchors",
+   * where an anchor corresponds to a reference to a particular resource with
+   * a corresponding resource identified (URI).  Hyperlinks may be 
+   * queried for their URIs, or queried for the objects corresponding to their
+   * anchors.  The objects thus obtained are instances of Accessible,
+   * and may be queried, and manipulated via the Action interface. 
+   *
+   * @note A Hyperlink implementor is normally NOT an Accessible; 
+   * the preferred usage is for a Hyperlink's associated "objects"
+   * (accessed via the ::getObject method) are Accessibles.  This means
+   * that Actions such as "open link" are normally invoked on
+   * the result of Hyperlink::getObject rather than directly on the 
+   * Hyperlink instance. For historical reasons some implementors of Hyperlink
+   * implement Action as well.  This usage on the part of implementing
+   * applications and toolkits is discouraged, but clients of Hyperlink
+   * should be aware of it and prepared to handle such usage.
+   */
   interface Hyperlink : Bonobo::Unknown {
+    /** the number of separate anchors associated with this Hyperlink */
     readonly attribute short nAnchors;
+    /** 
+     * the starting offset within the containing Hypertext content 
+     * with which this Hyperlink is associated 
+     */
     readonly attribute long startIndex;
+    /** 
+     * the ending offset within the containing Hypertext content 
+     * with which this Hyperlink is associated; that is, the offset of the
+     * first element past the range within the Hypertext associated with
+     * this Hyperlink. 
+     */
     readonly attribute long endIndex;
+    /** 
+     * Gets the i'th object, (where i is an integer between 0 and
+     * Hyperlink::numAnchors - 1, inclusive) associated with a Hyperlink.
+     * The objects returned are usually actionable (i.e. they should implement
+     * Accessibility::Action), and the available actions often include
+     * "open", "bookmark", "save link as", etc.  They may also implement
+     * Accessibility::StreamableContent, although clients can normally use 
+     * ::getURI to obtain a resource locator via which the object's
+     * data may be accessed.
+     * 
+     * @note the most common application for 'multi anchor'
+     * hyperlinks in HTML is probably "client side imagemaps".
+     * A clickable image which uses the HTML 'usemap' attribute
+     * should have one anchor for every <area> element that
+     * includes an HREF.  The objects corresponding to these map
+     * areas may implement Accessibility::Component, to represent
+     * their onscreen bounding box, and may expose their 'shape' as
+     * as name-value pair via Accessibility::Accessible::getAttributeSet.
+     *
+     * @returns an Accessible object instance representing the
+     * Hyperlink's ith anchor, or through which the content associated with
+     * the \c ith anchor can be
+     * accessed.
+     */
     Accessible getObject (in long i);
+    /** 
+     * Obtain a resource locator ('URI') which can be used to 
+     * access the content to which this link "points" or is connected.
+     * @returns a string corresponding to the URI of the Hyperlink's
+     * 'ith' anchor, if one exists, or a NIL string otherwise.
+     */
     string getURI (in long i);
+    /** 
+     * Check the hyperlink to see if a connection to its backing
+     * content can be established, or if its URI is valid.
+     * @note instances of invalid hyperlinks include links with malformed
+     *       URIs, or for which a contact to the service provider
+     *       specified in the URI cannot be established.
+     * @returns \c True if the object's content is available, or
+     *          \c False if the hyperlink's URI is invalid, or 
+     *          a connection to the resource can not be established.
+     */
     boolean isValid ();
-    /**
+    /** \cond
      * unImplemented:
      *
      * placeholders for future expansion.
      */
     void unImplemented ();
     void unImplemented2 ();
+    void unImplemented3 ();
+    void unImplemented4 ();
+    /** \endcond */
   };
 };