/*

 * Copyright 1996-2003 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 java.awt.datatransfer;

import java.io.IOException;

/**

 * Defines the interface for classes that can be used to provide data

 * for a transfer operation.

 * <p>

 * For information on using data transfer with Swing, see

 * <a href="http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/dnd.html">

 * How to Use Drag and Drop and Data Transfer</a>,

 * a section in <em>The Java Tutorial</em>, for more information.

 *

 * @author      Amy Fowler

 */

public interface Transferable {

    /**

     * Returns an array of DataFlavor objects indicating the flavors the data

     * can be provided in.  The array should be ordered according to preference

     * for providing the data (from most richly descriptive to least descriptive).

     * @return an array of data flavors in which this data can be transferred

     */

    public DataFlavor[] getTransferDataFlavors();

    /**

     * Returns whether or not the specified data flavor is supported for

     * this object.

     * @param flavor the requested flavor for the data

     * @return boolean indicating whether or not the data flavor is supported

     */

    public boolean isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor flavor);

    /**

     * Returns an object which represents the data to be transferred.  The class

     * of the object returned is defined by the representation class of the flavor.

     *

     * @param flavor the requested flavor for the data

     * @see DataFlavor#getRepresentationClass

     * @exception IOException                if the data is no longer available

     *              in the requested flavor.

     * @exception UnsupportedFlavorException if the requested data flavor is

     *              not supported.

     */

    public Object getTransferData(DataFlavor flavor) throws UnsupportedFlavorException, IOException;

}