path: root/modules/libpref/nsIPrefBranch.idl

/* -*- Mode: IDL; tab-width: 2; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 2 -*- */
/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
 * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */

#include "nsISupports.idl"

interface nsIObserver;

/**
 * The nsIPrefBranch interface is used to manipulate the preferences data. This
 * object may be obtained from the preferences service (nsIPrefService) and
 * used to get and set default and/or user preferences across the application.
 *
 * This object is created with a "root" value which describes the base point in
 * the preferences "tree" from which this "branch" stems. Preferences are
 * accessed off of this root by using just the final portion of the preference.
 * For example, if this object is created with the root "browser.startup.",
 * the preferences "browser.startup.page", "browser.startup.homepage",
 * and "browser.startup.homepage_override" can be accessed by simply passing
 * "page", "homepage", or "homepage_override" to the various Get/Set methods.
 *
 * @see nsIPrefService
 */

[scriptable, uuid(55d25e49-793f-4727-a69f-de8b15f4b985)]
interface nsIPrefBranch : nsISupports
{

  /**
   * Values describing the basic preference types.
   *
   * @see getPrefType
   */
  const long PREF_INVALID = 0;
  const long PREF_STRING = 32;
  const long PREF_INT = 64;
  const long PREF_BOOL = 128;

  /**
   * Called to get the root on which this branch is based, such as
   * "browser.startup."
   */
  readonly attribute string root;

  /**
   * Called to determine the type of a specific preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The preference to get the type of.
   *
   * @return long     A value representing the type of the preference. This
   *                  value will be PREF_STRING, PREF_INT, or PREF_BOOL.
   */
  long getPrefType(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to get the state of an individual boolean preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The boolean preference to get the state of.
   *
   * @return boolean  The value of the requested boolean preference.
   *
   * @see setBoolPref
   */
  boolean getBoolPref(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to set the state of an individual boolean preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The boolean preference to set the state of.
   * @param aValue    The boolean value to set the preference to.
   *
   * @throws Error if setting failed or the preference has a default
             value of a type other than boolean.
   *
   * @see getBoolPref
   */
  void setBoolPref(in string aPrefName, in boolean aValue);

  /**
   * Called to get the state of an individual floating-point preference.
   * "Floating point" preferences are really string preferences that
   * are converted to floating point numbers.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The floating point preference to get the state of.
   *
   * @return float  The value of the requested floating point preference.
   *
   * @see setCharPref
   */
  float getFloatPref(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to get the state of an individual string preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The string preference to retrieve.
   *
   * @return string   The value of the requested string preference.
   *
   * @see setCharPref
   */
  string getCharPref(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to set the state of an individual string preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The string preference to set.
   * @param aValue    The string value to set the preference to.
   *
   * @throws Error if setting failed or the preference has a default
             value of a type other than string.
   *
   * @see getCharPref
   */
  void setCharPref(in string aPrefName, in string aValue);

  /**
   * Called to get the state of an individual integer preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The integer preference to get the value of.
   *
   * @return long     The value of the requested integer preference.
   *
   * @see setIntPref
   */
  long getIntPref(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to set the state of an individual integer preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The integer preference to set the value of.
   * @param aValue    The integer value to set the preference to.
   *
   * @throws Error if setting failed or the preference has a default
             value of a type other than integer.
   *
   * @see getIntPref
   */
  void setIntPref(in string aPrefName, in long aValue);

  /**
   * Called to get the state of an individual complex preference. A complex
   * preference is a preference which represents an XPCOM object that can not
   * be easily represented using a standard boolean, integer or string value.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The complex preference to get the value of.
   * @param aType     The XPCOM interface that this complex preference
   *                  represents. Interfaces currently supported are:
   *                    - nsIFile
   *                    - nsISupportsString (UniChar)
   *                    - nsIPrefLocalizedString (Localized UniChar)
   * @param aValue    The XPCOM object into which to the complex preference 
   *                  value should be retrieved.
   *
   * @throws Error The value does not exist or is the wrong type.
   *
   * @see setComplexValue
   */
  void getComplexValue(in string aPrefName, in nsIIDRef aType,
                       [iid_is(aType), retval] out nsQIResult aValue);

  /**
   * Called to set the state of an individual complex preference. A complex
   * preference is a preference which represents an XPCOM object that can not
   * be easily represented using a standard boolean, integer or string value.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The complex preference to set the value of.
   * @param aType     The XPCOM interface that this complex preference
   *                  represents. Interfaces currently supported are:
   *                    - nsIFile
   *                    - nsISupportsString (UniChar)
   *                    - nsIPrefLocalizedString (Localized UniChar)
   * @param aValue    The XPCOM object from which to set the complex preference 
   *                  value.
   *
   * @throws Error if setting failed or the value is the wrong type.
   *
   * @see getComplexValue
   */
  void setComplexValue(in string aPrefName, in nsIIDRef aType, in nsISupports aValue);

  /**
   * Called to clear a user set value from a specific preference. This will, in
   * effect, reset the value to the default value. If no default value exists
   * the preference will cease to exist.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The preference to be cleared.
   *
   * @note
   * This method does nothing if this object is a default branch.
   */
  void clearUserPref(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to lock a specific preference. Locking a preference will cause the
   * preference service to always return the default value regardless of
   * whether there is a user set value or not.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The preference to be locked.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on the default branch.
   *
   * @throws Error The preference does not exist or an error occurred.
   *
   * @see unlockPref
   */
  void lockPref(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to check if a specific preference has a user value associated to
   * it.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The preference to be tested.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on the user branch.
   *
   * @note
   * If a preference was manually set to a value that equals the default value,
   * then the preference no longer has a user set value, i.e. it is
   * considered reset to its default value.
   * In particular, this method will return false for such a preference and
   * the preference will not be saved to a file by nsIPrefService.savePrefFile.
   *
   * @return boolean  true  The preference has a user set value.
   *                  false The preference only has a default value.
   */
  boolean prefHasUserValue(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to check if a specific preference is locked. If a preference is
   * locked calling its Get method will always return the default value.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The preference to be tested.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on the default branch.
   *
   * @return boolean  true  The preference is locked.
   *                  false The preference is not locked.
   *
   * @see lockPref
   * @see unlockPref
   */
  boolean prefIsLocked(in string aPrefName);

  /**
   * Called to unlock a specific preference. Unlocking a previously locked 
   * preference allows the preference service to once again return the user set
   * value of the preference.
   *
   * @param aPrefName The preference to be unlocked.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on the default branch.
   *
   * @throws Error The preference does not exist or an error occurred.
   *
   * @see lockPref
   */
  void    unlockPref(in string aPrefName);


  /**
   * Called to remove all of the preferences referenced by this branch.
   *
   * @param aStartingAt The point on the branch at which to start the deleting
   *                    preferences. Pass in "" to remove all preferences
   *                    referenced by this branch.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on both.
   *
   * @throws Error The preference(s) do not exist or an error occurred.
   */
  void deleteBranch(in string aStartingAt);

  /**
   * Returns an array of strings representing the child preferences of the
   * root of this branch.
   * 
   * @param aStartingAt The point on the branch at which to start enumerating
   *                    the child preferences. Pass in "" to enumerate all
   *                    preferences referenced by this branch.
   * @param aCount      Receives the number of elements in the array.
   * @param aChildArray Receives the array of child preferences.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on both.
   *
   * @throws Error The preference(s) do not exist or an error occurred.
   */
  void getChildList(in string aStartingAt,
                    [optional] out unsigned long aCount,
                    [array, size_is(aCount), retval] out string aChildArray);

  /**
   * Called to reset all of the preferences referenced by this branch to their
   * default values.
   *
   * @param aStartingAt The point on the branch at which to start the resetting
   *                    preferences to their default values. Pass in "" to
   *                    reset all preferences referenced by this branch.
   *
   * @note
   * This method can be called on either a default or user branch but, in
   * effect, always operates on the user branch.
   *
   * @throws Error The preference(s) do not exist or an error occurred.
   */
  void resetBranch(in string aStartingAt);

  /**
   * Add a preference change observer. On preference changes, the following
   * arguments will be passed to the nsIObserver.observe() method:
   *   aSubject - The nsIPrefBranch object (this)
   *   aTopic   - The string defined by NS_PREFBRANCH_PREFCHANGE_TOPIC_ID
   *   aData    - The name of the preference which has changed, relative to
   *              the |root| of the aSubject branch.
   *
   * aSubject.get*Pref(aData) will get the new value of the modified
   * preference. For example, if your observer is registered with
   * addObserver("bar.", ...) on a branch with root "foo.", modifying
   * the preference "foo.bar.baz" will trigger the observer, and aData
   * parameter will be "bar.baz".
   *
   * @param aDomain   The preference on which to listen for changes. This can
   *                  be the name of an entire branch to observe.
   *                  e.g. Holding the "root" prefbranch and calling
   *                  addObserver("foo.bar.", ...) will observe changes to
   *                  foo.bar.baz and foo.bar.bzip
   * @param aObserver The object to be notified if the preference changes.
   * @param aHoldWeak true  Hold a weak reference to |aObserver|. The object
   *                        must implement the nsISupportsWeakReference
   *                        interface or this will fail.
   *                  false Hold a strong reference to |aObserver|.
   *
   * @note
   * Registering as a preference observer can open an object to potential
   * cyclical references which will cause memory leaks. These cycles generally
   * occur because an object both registers itself as an observer (causing the
   * branch to hold a reference to the observer) and holds a reference to the
   * branch object for the purpose of getting/setting preference values. There
   * are 3 approaches which have been implemented in an attempt to avoid these
   * situations.
   * 1) The nsPrefBranch object supports nsISupportsWeakReference. Any consumer
   *    may hold a weak reference to it instead of a strong one.
   * 2) The nsPrefBranch object listens for xpcom-shutdown and frees all of the
   *    objects currently in its observer list. This ensures that long lived
   *    objects (services for example) will be freed correctly.
   * 3) The observer can request to be held as a weak reference when it is
   *    registered. This insures that shorter lived objects (say one tied to an
   *    open window) will not fall into the cyclical reference trap.
   *
   * @note
   * The list of registered observers may be changed during the dispatch of
   * nsPref:changed notification. However, the observers are not guaranteed
   * to be notified in any particular order, so you can't be sure whether the
   * added/removed observer will be called during the notification when it
   * is added/removed.
   *
   * @note
   * It is possible to change preferences during the notification.
   *
   * @note
   * It is not safe to change observers during this callback in Gecko 
   * releases before 1.9. If you want a safe way to remove a pref observer,
   * please use an nsITimer.
   *
   * @see nsIObserver
   * @see removeObserver
   */
  void addObserver(in string aDomain, in nsIObserver aObserver,
                   in boolean aHoldWeak);

  /**
   * Remove a preference change observer.
   *
   * @param aDomain   The preference which is being observed for changes.
   * @param aObserver An observer previously registered with addObserver().
   *
   * @note
   * Note that you must call removeObserver() on the same nsIPrefBranch
   * instance on which you called addObserver() in order to remove aObserver;
   * otherwise, the observer will not be removed.
   *
   * @see nsIObserver
   * @see addObserver
   */
  void removeObserver(in string aDomain, in nsIObserver aObserver);
};


%{C++

#define NS_PREFBRANCH_CONTRACTID "@mozilla.org/preferencesbranch;1"
/**
 * Notification sent when a preference changes.
 */
#define NS_PREFBRANCH_PREFCHANGE_TOPIC_ID "nsPref:changed"

%}