/*

 * Copyright 1997-2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,

 * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or

 * have any questions.

 */

package javax.activation;

import java.io.IOException;

/**

 * JavaBeans components that are Activation Framework aware implement

 * this interface to find out which command verb they're being asked

 * to perform, and to obtain the DataHandler representing the

 * data they should operate on.  JavaBeans that don't implement

 * this interface may be used as well.  Such commands may obtain

 * the data using the Externalizable interface, or using an

 * application-specific method.<p>

 *

 * @since 1.6

 */

public interface CommandObject {

    /**

     * Initialize the Command with the verb it is requested to handle

     * and the DataHandler that describes the data it will

     * operate on. <b>NOTE:</b> it is acceptable for the caller

     * to pass <i>null</i> as the value for <code>DataHandler</code>.

     *

     * @param verb The Command Verb this object refers to.

     * @param dh The DataHandler.

     */

    public void setCommandContext(String verb, DataHandler dh)

                                                throws IOException;

}