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 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

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 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

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 *

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package java.sql;

/**

 * Interface used to indicate that this object represents a Sharding Key. A

 * {@code ShardingKey} instance is only guaranteed to be compatible with the

 * data source instance that it was derived from. A {@code ShardingKey} is

 * created using {@link ShardingKeyBuilder}.

 * <p>

 * The following example illustrates the use of {@link ShardingKeyBuilder} to

 * create a {@code ShardingKey}:

 * <pre>

 * {@code

 *

 *     DataSource ds = new MyDataSource();

 *     ShardingKey shardingKey = ds.createShardingKeyBuilder()

 *                           .subkey("abc", JDBCType.VARCHAR)

 *                           .subkey(94002, JDBCType.INTEGER)

 *                           .build();

 * }

 * </pre>

 * <p>

 *

 * A {@code ShardingKey} may also be used for specifying a

 * {@code superShardingKey}. Databases that support composite Sharding may use a

 * {@code superShardingKey} to specify a additional level of partitioning within

 * the Shard.

 * <p>

 * The following example illustrates the use of {@link ShardingKeyBuilder} to

 * create a {@code superShardingKey} for an eastern region with a

 * {@code ShardingKey} specified for the Pittsburgh branch office:

 * <pre>

 * {@code

 *

 *     DataSource ds = new MyDataSource();

 *     ShardingKey superShardingKey = ds.createShardingKeyBuilder()

 *                           .subkey("EASTERN_REGION", JDBCType.VARCHAR)

 *                           .build();

 *     ShardingKey shardingKey = ds.createShardingKeyBuilder()

 *                           .subkey("PITTSBURGH_BRANCH", JDBCType.VARCHAR)

 *                           .build();

 *     Connection con = ds.createConnectionBuilder()

 *                           .superShardingKey(superShardingKey)

 *                           .shardingKey(shardingKey)

 *                           .build();

 * }

 * </pre>

 *

 * @since 9

 */

public interface ShardingKey {

}