<?php
/*
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
 * "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
 * LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
 * A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
 * OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
 * SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
 * LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
 * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
 * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
 * OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 *
 * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many individuals
 * and is licensed under the MIT license. For more information, see
 * <http://www.doctrine-project.org>.
 */

namespace Doctrine\Common\Collections;

/**
 * Interface for collections that allow efficient filtering with an expression API.
 *
 * Goal of this interface is a backend independent method to fetch elements
 * from a collections. {@link Expression} is crafted in a way that you can
 * implement queries from both in-memory and database-backed collections.
 *
 * For database backed collections this allows very efficient access by
 * utilizing the query APIs, for example SQL in the ORM. Applications using
 * this API can implement efficient database access without having to ask the
 * EntityManager or Repositories.
 *
 * @author Benjamin Eberlei <kontakt@beberlei.de>
 * @since  2.3
 */
interface Selectable
{
    /**
     * Selects all elements from a selectable that match the expression and
     * returns a new collection containing these elements.
     *
     * @param Criteria $criteria
     *
     * @return Collection
     */
    public function matching(Criteria $criteria);
}