/*

 * Copyright 1999 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.naming;

/**

  * This interface is implemented by an object that can provide a

  * Reference to itself.

  *<p>

  * A Reference represents a way of recording address information about

  * objects which themselves are not directly bound to the naming system.

  * Such objects can implement the Referenceable interface as a way

  * for programs that use that object to determine what its Reference is.

  * For example, when binding a object, if an object implements the

  * Referenceable interface, getReference() can be invoked on the object to

  * get its Reference to use for binding.

  *

  * @author Rosanna Lee

  * @author Scott Seligman

  * @author R. Vasudevan

  *

  * @see Context#bind

  * @see javax.naming.spi.NamingManager#getObjectInstance

  * @see Reference

  * @since 1.3

  */

public interface Referenceable {

    /**

      * Retrieves the Reference of this object.

      *

      * @return The non-null Reference of this object.

      * @exception NamingException If a naming exception was encountered

      *         while retrieving the reference.

      */

    Reference getReference() throws NamingException;

}