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}