001// Copyright 2004, 2005 The Apache Software Foundation
002//
003// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
004// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
005// You may obtain a copy of the License at
006//
007//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
008//
009// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
010// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
011// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
012// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
013// limitations under the License.
014
015package org.apache.hivemind;
016
017/**
018 * Interface typically used by configuration items that wish to be ordered.
019 * Each item must provide a name, and lists: names of items which should precede
020 * the item, and names of items to follow.
021 * 
022 * @author Howard M. Lewis Ship
023 */
024public interface Orderable
025{
026    /**
027     * Returns the name of the item, which is used to establish sort order.
028     */
029    public String getName();
030
031    /**
032     * Returns a comma-seperated list of the names of other items. This item will precede
033     * all such items. The special
034     * value <code>*</code> indicates that the item should precede all items.
035     * 
036     * @return the list, the value <code>*</code>, or null
037     */
038
039    public String getFollowingNames();
040
041    /**
042     * As {@link #getFollowingNames()}, but the identified items will precede this item.
043     */
044
045    public String getPrecedingNames();
046}