/*
 * Copyright 2019 Google LLC
 *
 * 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 idea.plugin.protoeditor.lang.psi;

import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiReference;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;

/**
 * An element that provides an effective reference to some other element. The actual {@link
 * PsiReference} instance might be produced by some child element.
 */
public interface EffectiveReferenceOwner extends PsiElement {

  /**
   * Returns a {@link PsiReference} to some other element. Unlike {@link #getReference()}, the
   * returned reference might actually be created by some child or grandchild of this element. I.e.,
   * {@link PsiReference#getElement()} might not return this element.
   *
   * @return A reference to some other element, or <code>null</code>.
   */
  @Nullable
  PsiReference getEffectiveReference();
}
