/*
 * Jakelib2 - General purpose C++ library
 * Copyright (C) 2001 Florian Wolff  (florian@donuz.de)
 *
 * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 * version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 * Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
 *
 * $Id: ZObject.h,v 1.3 2002/06/08 10:09:42 florian Exp $
 */


class ZString;
class ZHashtable;
class ZOutputStream;


/**
 * <P><TT>ZObject</TT> is the base class for all classes of jakelib.</P>
 *
 * <P> Every inheriting class should at least set the <TT>classname</TT>
 * property.
 *
 * @package jakelib.lang
 * @version $Id: ZObject.h,v 1.3 2002/06/08 10:09:42 florian Exp $
 * @author Florian 'Overflo' Wolff (florian@donuz.de)
 */
class ZObject
{
 public:
  ZObject();
  virtual ~ZObject();

  /**
   * Returns a hash code for this object. Should be overwritten by inheriting
   * classes.
   */
  virtual int hashCode();

  /**
   * Returns a copy of this object. Should be overwritten by inheriting classes.
   */
  virtual ZObject* clone();

  /**
   * Returns a string representation of this object. Should be overwritten by
   * inheriting classes.
   */
  virtual ZString toString();

  /**
   * Returns a pointer to the string representation of this object.
   * Should be overwritten by inheriting classes.
   */
  virtual const char* getChars();

  /**
   * Compares this object to another <TT>ZObject</TT>. Returns <TT>TRUE</TT> if
   * the objects are equal and <TT>FALSE</TT> otherwise.
   * Should be overwritten by inheriting classes.
   */
  virtual boolean equals(ZObject* obj);

  /**
   * Increments the internal reference counter by one.
   * <b>This function should be called directly!
   * Always use the macro <tt>ZREF</tt>!</b>
   */
  void ref();

  /**
   * Decrements the internal reference counter by one.
   * <b>This function should be called directly!
   * Always use the macro <tt>ZUNREF</tt>!</b>
   */
  unsigned long unref();

  /**
   * Returns the class name.
   */
  char* getClassname();
  
 protected:
  /** The class name of this object. Should be set in the constructor. */
  char* classname;

  /** The internal reference counter */
  unsigned long refCounter;
};