/*
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.
 *
 *
 */