typedef struct SFormat SFormat;
typedef struct SFileInput SFileInput;
typedef struct SFileOutput SFileOutput;
typedef guint SType;


/* A possibly better API/naming scheme
 *
 * Serializer *serializer_new (SerializerFormat *format);
 *
 * SerializerReadContext *serializer_begin_read (serializer *serialize,
 *						 const char *filename,
 *                                               GError *err);
 * serializer_get_blah (SerializerReadContext *);
 * void serialzier_end_read (...);
 *
 * SerializerWritecontext *...;
 * serializer_begin_write (context);
 * serializer_write_int ();
 * serializer_end_write (..., GError **err);
 *
 *
 *  For formats consider:
 *
 *   Format *format_new (void);
 *   void format_new_record (Format *f, Record *r);
 *   
 *
 * Consider adding optional elements:
 *
 *         sformat_new_optional (gpointer content)
 *
 * enums, optionals, selections, empties
 *
 */

/* - Describing Types - */
SFormat *sformat_new (gpointer f);
gpointer sformat_new_record (const char  *name,
			     SType	 *type,
			     gpointer     content,
			     ...);
gpointer sformat_new_list (const char  *name,
			   SType       *type,
			   gpointer	content);
gpointer sformat_new_pointer (const char  *name,
			      SType	  *target_type);
gpointer sformat_new_integer (const char  *name);
gpointer sformat_new_string (const char  *name);
void sformat_free (SFormat *format);

/* - Reading - */
SFileInput *  sfile_load        (const char  *filename,
				 SFormat       *format,
				 GError     **err);
void     sfile_begin_get_record (SFileInput  *file, const char *name);
int      sfile_begin_get_list   (SFileInput  *file, const char *name);
void     sfile_get_pointer      (SFileInput  *file,
				 const char *name,
				 gpointer    *pointer);
void     sfile_get_integer      (SFileInput  *file,
				 const char *name,
				 int         *integer);
void     sfile_get_string       (SFileInput  *file,
				 const char *name,
				 char       **string);
void     sfile_end_get          (SFileInput  *file,
				 const char *name,
				 gpointer     object);

#if 0
/* incremental loading (worth considering at least) */
SFileLoader *sfile_loader_new      (SFormat        *format);
void         sfile_loader_add_text (SFileLoader  *loader,
				    const char   *text,
				    int           len);
SFile *      sfile_loader_finish   (SFileLoader  *loader,
				    GError      **err);
void         sfile_loader_free     (SFileLoader  *loader);
#endif

/* - Writing - */

/* FIXME: see if we can't get rid of the names. It should be
= * possible to pass NULL to state_transition_check() and
 * have it interprete that as "whatever". We would need
 * a way to get the name back then, though.
 */

SFileOutput *  sfile_output_new (SFormat       *format);
void     sfile_begin_add_record (SFileOutput       *file,
				 const char *name);
void     sfile_begin_add_list   (SFileOutput       *file,
				 const char *name);
void     sfile_end_add          (SFileOutput       *file,
				 const char *name,
				 gpointer object);
void     sfile_add_string       (SFileOutput       *file,
				 const char *name,
				 const char  *string);
void     sfile_add_integer      (SFileOutput       *file,
				 const char *name,
				 int          integer);
void     sfile_add_pointer      (SFileOutput       *file,
				 const char *name,
				 gpointer     pointer);
gboolean sfile_output_save      (SFileOutput       *sfile,
				 const char  *filename,
				 GError     **err);

void sfile_output_free (SFileOutput *sfile);