/*

 * 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;

/**

 * This interface defines a factory for <code>DataContentHandlers</code>. An

 * implementation of this interface should map a MIME type into an

 * instance of DataContentHandler. The design pattern for classes implementing

 * this interface is the same as for the ContentHandler mechanism used in

 * <code>java.net.URL</code>.

 *

 * @since 1.6

 */

public interface DataContentHandlerFactory {

    /**

     * Creates a new DataContentHandler object for the MIME type.

     *

     * @param mimeType the MIME type to create the DataContentHandler for.

     * @return The new <code>DataContentHandler</code>, or <i>null</i>

     * if none are found.

     */

    public DataContentHandler createDataContentHandler(String mimeType);

}