package net.sourceforge.fenixedu.applicationTier.Servico.commons;

import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Map;

public interface AutoCompleteSearchService {
    /**
     * @param type
     *            the type of the object that we want to search. If the service
     *            does not know how to search objects of the given type then it
     *            should signal an exception
     * @param value
     *            the value given by the user
     * @param limit
     *            the number of intended results. The service may ignore this
     *            value since the result of the service will filtered
     *            automatically so that it never contains more elements than the
     *            requested number. Nevertheless the service may use this value
     *            to select the most relevant results or to optimize the search.
     * @param arguments
     *            a map with any extra arguments that were passed to the
     *            service. This arguments can be used to configure a generic
     *            service like, for example, choose the fields we are using for
     *            the search.
     */
    public Collection run(Class type, String value, int limit, Map<String, String> arguments);
}