// C++ informative line for the emacs editor: -*- C++ -*-
/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 * Copyright by The HDF Group.                                               *
 * Copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.         *
 * All rights reserved.                                                      *
 *                                                                           *
 * This file is part of HDF5.  The full HDF5 copyright notice, including     *
 * terms governing use, modification, and redistribution, is contained in    *
 * the COPYING file, which can be found at the root of the source code       *
 * distribution tree, or in https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases.  *
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 * help@hdfgroup.org.                                                        *
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#ifndef __H5VarLenType_H
#define __H5VarLenType_H

namespace H5 {

/*! \class VarLenType
    \brief VarLenType is a derivative of a DataType and operates on HDF5
    Variable-length Datatypes.
*/
//  Inheritance: DataType -> H5Object -> H5Location -> IdComponent
class H5_DLLCPP VarLenType : public DataType {
   public:
        // Constructor that creates a variable-length datatype based
        // on the specified base type.
        VarLenType(const DataType& base_type);

        // Deprecated - will be removed after 1.10.2
        VarLenType(const DataType* base_type);

        // Returns an VarLenType object via DataType* by decoding the
        // binary object description of this type.
        virtual DataType* decode() const;

        ///\brief Returns this class name.
        virtual H5std_string fromClass () const { return("VarLenType"); }

        // Copy constructor: same as the original VarLenType.
        VarLenType(const VarLenType& original);

        // Constructor that takes an existing id
        VarLenType(const hid_t existing_id);

        // Constructors that open a variable-length datatype, given a location.
        VarLenType(const H5Location& loc, const char* name);
        VarLenType(const H5Location& loc, const H5std_string& name);

        // Noop destructor
        virtual ~VarLenType();

        // Default constructor
        VarLenType();

}; // end of VarLenType
} // namespace H5

#endif // __H5VarLenType_H
