BizHawk/BizHawk.Emulation.Common/Interfaces/IEmulator.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;

namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Common
{
	public interface IEmulator : IEmulatorService, IDisposable
	{
		/// <summary>
		/// Retrieves an IEmulatorService from the core, 
		/// if the core does not have the type specified, it will return null
		/// </summary>
		/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
		/// <returns></returns>
		IEmulatorServiceProvider ServiceProvider { get; }

		/// <summary>
		/// Video provider to the client
		/// </summary>
		IVideoProvider VideoProvider { get; }
		
		/// <summary>
		/// Sound provider for async operation.  this is optional, and is only required after StartAsyncSound() is called and returns true
		/// </summary>
		ISoundProvider SoundProvider { get; }
		
		/// <summary>
		/// sound provider for sync operation.  this is manditory
		/// </summary>
		ISyncSoundProvider SyncSoundProvider { get; }
		
		/// <summary>start async operation.  (on construct, sync operation is assumed).</summary>
		/// <returns>false if core doesn't support async sound; SyncSoundProvider will continue to be used in that case</returns>
		bool StartAsyncSound();
		/// <summary>
		/// end async operation, returning to sync operation.  after this, all sound requests will go to the SyncSoundProvider
		/// </summary>
		void EndAsyncSound();

		/// <summary>
		/// Defines all the possible inputs and types that the core can receive
		/// </summary>
		ControllerDefinition ControllerDefinition { get; }
		IController Controller { get; set; }

		/// <summary>
		// note that (some?) cores expect you to call SoundProvider.GetSamples() after each FrameAdvance()
		// please do this, even when rendersound = false
		/// <summary>
		/// </summary>
		void FrameAdvance(bool render, bool rendersound = true);

		/// <summary>
		/// The frame count
		/// </summary>
		int Frame { get; }

		/// <summary>
		/// The unique Id of the given core, for instance "NES"
		/// </summary>
		string SystemId { get; }

		/// <summary>
		/// This flag is a contract with the client.  
		/// If true, the core agrees to behave in a completely deterministic manner,
		/// Features like movie recording depend on this.
		/// It is the client's responsibility to manage this flag.
		/// If a core wants to implement non-deterministic features (like speed hacks, frame-skipping), it must be done only when this flag is false
		/// if you want to set this, look in the emulator's constructor or Load() method
		/// </summary>
		bool DeterministicEmulation { get; }

		/// <summary>
		/// identifying information about a "mapper" or similar capability.  null if no such useful distinction can be drawn
		/// </summary>
		string BoardName { get; }

		/// <summary>
		/// Resets the Frame and Lag counters, and any other similar counters a core might implement
		/// </summary>
		void ResetCounters();

		/// <summary>
		/// the corecomm module in use by this core.
		/// </summary>
		CoreComm CoreComm { get; }
	}
}