/*
 *  Copyright 2003-2004 The Apache Software Foundation
 *
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 */
package org.apache.commons.collections;

import java.util.SortedMap;

/**
 * Defines a map that allows bidirectional lookup between key and values
 * and retains both keys and values in sorted order.
 * <p>
 * Implementations should allow a value to be looked up from a key and
 * a key to be looked up from a value with equal performance.
 *  
 * @since Commons Collections 3.0
 * @version $Revision: 1.6 $ $Date: 2004/02/18 01:15:42 $
 *
 * @author Stephen Colebourne
 */
public interface SortedBidiMap extends OrderedBidiMap, SortedMap {

    /**
     * Gets a view of this map where the keys and values are reversed.
     * <p>
     * Changes to one map will be visible in the other and vice versa.
     * This enables both directions of the map to be accessed equally.
     * <p>
     * Implementations should seek to avoid creating a new object every time this
     * method is called. See <code>AbstractMap.values()</code> etc. Calling this
     * method on the inverse map should return the original.
     * <p>
     * Implementations must return a <code>SortedBidiMap</code> instance,
     * usually by forwarding to <code>inverseSortedBidiMap()</code>.
     *
     * @return an inverted bidirectional map
     */
    public BidiMap inverseBidiMap();
    
    /**
     * Gets a view of this map where the keys and values are reversed.
     * <p>
     * Changes to one map will be visible in the other and vice versa.
     * This enables both directions of the map to be accessed as a <code>SortedMap</code>.
     * <p>
     * Implementations should seek to avoid creating a new object every time this
     * method is called. See <code>AbstractMap.values()</code> etc. Calling this
     * method on the inverse map should return the original.
     * <p>
     * The inverse map returned by <code>inverseBidiMap()</code> should be the
     * same object as returned by this method.
     *
     * @return an inverted bidirectional map
     */
    public SortedBidiMap inverseSortedBidiMap();
    
}