/*
Wotonomy: OpenStep design patterns for pure Java applications.
Copyright (C) 2001 Michael Powers

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library 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
Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this library; if not, see http://www.gnu.org
*/

package net.wotonomy.control;

/**
 * EOFaulting defines the requirements for objects that can be faulted by an
 * EOFaultManager.
 *
 * @author michael@mpowers.net
 * @author $Author: cgruber $
 * @version $Revision: 893 $
 */
public interface EOFaulting {
	/**
	 * Called by EOFaultHandler to prepare the object to be turned into a fault.
	 */
	void clearFault();

	/**
	 * Returns this object's EOFaultHandler.
	 */
	EOFaultHandler faultHandler();

	/**
	 * Returns whether this object is currently a fault. Returns true if this object
	 * has not yet retrieved any values.
	 */
	boolean isFault();

	/**
	 * Turns this object into a fault using the specified fault handler.
	 */
	void turnIntoFault(EOFaultHandler aFaultHandler);

	/**
	 * Called to completely fire the fault, reading all values. This method may be
	 * implemented to call willRead(null).
	 */
	void willRead();

	/**
	 * Called to fire the fault for the specified key. The fault manager is required
	 * to populate the specified key with a value, and may populate any or all of
	 * the other values on this object. A null key will populate all values on the
	 * object. NOTE: This method is not part of the specification.
	 */
	void willRead(String aKey);
}

/*
 * $Log$ Revision 1.1 2006/02/16 13:19:57 cgruber Check in all sources in
 * eclipse-friendly maven-enabled packages.
 *
 * Revision 1.1 2001/11/13 04:13:59 mpowers Added interfaces needed to begin
 * work on EOCustomObject.
 *
 *
 */