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package javax.xml.soap;

/**

 * A representation of an XML name.  This interface provides methods for

 * getting the local and namespace-qualified names and also for getting the

 * prefix associated with the namespace for the name. It is also possible

 * to get the URI of the namespace.

 * <P>

 * The following is an example of a namespace declaration in an element.

 * <PRE>

 *   <wombat:GetLastTradePrice xmlns:wombat="http://www.wombat.org/trader">

 * </PRE>

 * ("xmlns" stands for "XML namespace".)

 * The following

 * shows what the methods in the <code>Name</code> interface will return.

 * <UL>

 *  <LI><code>getQualifiedName</code> will return "prefix:LocalName" =

 *      "WOMBAT:GetLastTradePrice"

 *  <LI><code>getURI</code> will return "http://www.wombat.org/trader"

 *  <LI><code>getLocalName</code> will return "GetLastTracePrice"

 *  <LI><code>getPrefix</code> will return "WOMBAT"

 * </UL>

 * <P>

 * XML namespaces are used to disambiguate SOAP identifiers from

 * application-specific identifiers.

 * <P>

 * <code>Name</code> objects are created using the method

 * <code>SOAPEnvelope.createName</code>, which has two versions.

 * One method creates <code>Name</code> objects with

 * a local name, a namespace prefix, and a namespace URI.

 *  and the second creates <code>Name</code> objects with just a local name.

 * The following line of

 * code, in which <i>se</i> is a <code>SOAPEnvelope</code> object, creates a new

 * <code>Name</code> object with all three.

 * <PRE>

 *     Name name = se.createName("GetLastTradePrice", "WOMBAT",

 *                                "http://www.wombat.org/trader");

 * </PRE>

 * The following line of code gives an example of how a <code>Name</code> object

 * can be used. The variable <i>element</i> is a <code>SOAPElement</code> object.

 * This code creates a new <code>SOAPElement</code> object with the given name and

 * adds it to <i>element</i>.

 * <PRE>

 *     element.addChildElement(name);

 * </PRE>

 * <P>

 * The <code>Name</code> interface may be deprecated in a future release of SAAJ

 * in favor of <code>javax.xml.namespace.QName<code>

 * @see SOAPEnvelope#createName(String, String, String) SOAPEnvelope.createName

 * @see SOAPFactory#createName(String, String, String) SOAPFactory.createName

 */

public interface Name {

    /**

     * Gets the local name part of the XML name that this <code>Name</code>

     * object represents.

     *

     * @return a string giving the local name

     */

    String getLocalName();

    /**

     * Gets the namespace-qualified name of the XML name that this

     * <code>Name</code> object represents.

     *

     * @return the namespace-qualified name as a string

     */

    String getQualifiedName();

    /**

     * Returns the prefix that was specified when this <code>Name</code> object

     * was initialized. This prefix is associated with the namespace for the XML

     * name that this <code>Name</code> object represents.

     *

     * @return the prefix as a string

     */

    String getPrefix();

    /**

     * Returns the URI of the namespace for the XML

     * name that this <code>Name</code> object represents.

     *

     * @return the URI as a string

     */

    String getURI();

}