* Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
*/
-#include <Accessible.idl>
+#include <Accessibility_Accessible.idl>
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 {
- readonly attribute short n_anchors;
- readonly attribute string uri;
- Accessible getAnchor (in long i);
+ /** 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);
- long getStartIndex ();
- long getEndIndex ();
+ /**
+ * 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 */
};
};