/*

 * Copyright 1999-2004 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.spi;

import javax.naming.Context;

import javax.naming.Name;

import javax.naming.NamingException;

/**

  * This interface represents an "intermediate context" for name resolution.

  *<p>

  * The Resolver interface contains methods that are implemented by contexts

  * that do not support subtypes of Context, but which can act as

  * intermediate contexts for resolution purposes.

  *<p>

  * A <tt>Name</tt> parameter passed to any method is owned

  * by the caller.  The service provider will not modify the object

  * or keep a reference to it.

  * A <tt>ResolveResult</tt> object returned by any

  * method is owned by the caller.  The caller may subsequently modify it;

  * the service provider may not.

  *

  * @author Rosanna Lee

  * @author Scott Seligman

  * @since 1.3

  */

public interface Resolver {

    /**

     * Partially resolves a name.  Stops at the first

     * context that is an instance of a given subtype of

     * <code>Context</code>.

     *

     * @param name

     *          the name to resolve

     * @param contextType

     *          the type of object to resolve.  This should

     *          be a subtype of <code>Context</code>.

     * @return  the object that was found, along with the unresolved

     *          suffix of <code>name</code>.  Cannot be null.

     *

     * @throws  javax.naming.NotContextException

     *          if no context of the appropriate type is found

     * @throws  NamingException if a naming exception was encountered

     *

     * @see #resolveToClass(String, Class)

     */

    public ResolveResult resolveToClass(Name name,

                                        Class<? extends Context> contextType)

            throws NamingException;

    /**

     * Partially resolves a name.

     * See {@link #resolveToClass(Name, Class)} for details.

     *

     * @param name

     *          the name to resolve

     * @param contextType

     *          the type of object to resolve.  This should

     *          be a subtype of <code>Context</code>.

     * @return  the object that was found, along with the unresolved

     *          suffix of <code>name</code>.  Cannot be null.

     *

     * @throws  javax.naming.NotContextException

     *          if no context of the appropriate type is found

     * @throws  NamingException if a naming exception was encountered

     */

    public ResolveResult resolveToClass(String name,

                                        Class<? extends Context> contextType)

            throws NamingException;

};