// $Id: ModuleInterface.java 11498 2006-11-18 07:36:14Z linus $
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package org.argouml.moduleloader;
/**
* This is the interface that each module needs to implement in order to be
* loadable into ArgoUML according to the new module loader API.
*
* @author Linus Tolke
* @since 0.17.1
*/
public interface ModuleInterface {
/**
* Method to enable the module.<p>
*
* If it cannot enable the module because some other module is
* not enabled it can return <code>false</code>.
* In that case the module loader will defer this attempt until
* all other modules are loaded (or until some more of ArgoUML is loaded
* if at startup). Eventually it is only this and some other modules
* that is not loaded and they will then be listed as having problems.
*
* @return true if all went well
*/
boolean enable();
/**
* Method to disable the module.<p>
*
* If we cannot disable the module because some other module relies
* on it, we return false. This will then make it impossible to turn off.
* (An error is signalled at the attempt).
*
* @return true if all went well.
*/
boolean disable();
/**
* The name of the module.<p>
*
* This should be a short string. For the purpose of having the GUI
* that turns on and off the module look nice there is no whitespace in
* this string (no spaces, tabs or newlines).<p>
*
* This name is also used as the key internally when modules checks for
* other modules, if they are available.
*
* @return the name (A String).
*/
String getName();
/**
* The info about the module.<p>
*
* This returns texts with information about the module.<p>
*
* The possible informations are retrieved by giving any of the
* arguments:<ul>
* <li>{@link #DESCRIPTION}
* <li>{@link #AUTHOR}
* <li>{@link #VERSION}
* <li>{@link #DOWNLOADSITE}
* </ul>
*
* If a module does not provide a specific piece of information,
* <code>null</code> can be returned. Hence the normal implementation
* should be:<pre>
* public String getInfo(int type) {
* switch (type) {
* case DESCRIPTION:
* return "This module does ...";
* case AUTHOR:
* return "Annie Coder";
* default:
* return null;
* }
* </pre>
*
* @param type The type of information.
* @return The description. A String.
*/
String getInfo(int type);
/**
* The description of the module.
*/
int DESCRIPTION = 0;
/**
* The author of the module.
*/
int AUTHOR = 1;
/**
* The version of the module.
*/
int VERSION = 2;
/**
* The URL of the website stating information on where to download the
* module.
*/
int DOWNLOADSITE = 3;
}