class OEHClient::Data::Node

	attr_accessor :nodes

	def initialize(data)

		# Raise an exception if the data passed is not already a hash

		# based on the type of object that is passed, create the proper attribute accessor
		#  to allow easy access to data.  For example, a simple value in the structure called
		#  firstName will be represented in the object as my_structure.first_name.  Simple
		#  object are represented as related node classes.  For example a Preference node with
		#  an attribute of nonSmokingRoom will be represented as my_structure.preference.non_smoking_room
		data.each do | key, value |
			(value.kind_of?(Array) ? add_collection(key, value) : add_attribute(key, value))
		end

	end

	# return the names of each of the attributes of the current nodes of the structure
	def attribute_names()
		name_collection = Array.new
		instance_variable_names.each do | structure_attribute | 
			structure_attribute.slice!(0)
			name_collection << structure_attribute
		end
		name_collection
	end # def attribute_names


	private 

	# add_collection dynamically create an attr_accessor as an array of Oeh::Structure::Node
	#  classes related to the current instance of the object. 
	def add_collection(name, value_collection)

		# initialize the array object that will act as the value of the attribute
		node_collection = []

		# for each hash in the array, add a new structure node 
		value_collection.each do | structure_node | 
			node_collection << OEHClient::Data::Structure.new(structure_node)
		end
		# add the arry of node objects to the accessor
		add_attribute(name, node_collection)

	end

	# add_attribute dynamically creates an attr_accessor for the passed key_value pair either 
	#  as a simple value attribute or as an instance of another Node class
	def add_attribute(name, value)
		
		# generate a ruby-friendly attribute accessor based on the name of the 
		#  structure attribute
		accessor_name = name.underscore
		accessor_name.gsub!(/( )/, '_') if (accessor_name.match(/\s/))
		# create the accessor in the current class and set the value based on the type
		#  of object that represents the value
		self.class.send(:attr_accessor, accessor_name)
		instance_variable_set("@#{accessor_name}", (value.kind_of?(Hash) ? OEHClient::Data::Node.new(value) : value))

	end		


end