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#region Copyright notice and license
// Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
// Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
// https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/
//
// Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
// modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
// met:
//
// * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
// notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
// * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
// copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
// in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
// distribution.
// * Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its
// contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
// this software without specific prior written permission.
//
// 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.
#endregion
namespace Google.Protobuf
{
/// <summary>
/// A message type that has a custom string format for diagnostic purposes.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// <para>
/// Calling <see cref="object.ToString"/> on a generated message type normally
/// returns the JSON representation. If a message type implements this interface,
/// then the <see cref="ToDiagnosticString"/> method will be called instead of the regular
/// JSON formatting code, but only when <c>ToString()</c> is called either on the message itself
/// or on another message which contains it. This does not affect the normal JSON formatting of
/// the message.
/// </para>
/// <para>
/// For example, if you create a proto message representing a GUID, the internal
/// representation may be a <c>bytes</c> field or four <c>fixed32</c> fields. However, when debugging
/// it may be more convenient to see a result in the same format as <see cref="System.Guid"/> provides.
/// </para>
/// <para>This interface extends <see cref="IMessage"/> to avoid it accidentally being implemented
/// on types other than messages, where it would not be used by anything in the framework.</para>
/// </remarks>
public interface ICustomDiagnosticMessage : IMessage
{
/// <summary>
/// Returns a string representation of this object, for diagnostic purposes.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// This method is called when a message is formatted as part of a <see cref="object.ToString"/>
/// call. It does not affect the JSON representation used by <see cref="JsonFormatter"/> other than
/// in calls to <see cref="JsonFormatter.ToDiagnosticString(IMessage)"/>. While it is recommended
/// that the result is valid JSON, this is never assumed by the Protobuf library.
/// </remarks>
/// <returns>A string representation of this object, for diagnostic purposes.</returns>
string ToDiagnosticString();
}
}