ContinuedElement.java

package com.xenoage.zong.musiclayout.continued;

import com.xenoage.zong.core.music.MusicElement;

/**
 * Interface for a continued element.
 * 
 * A continued element connects stampings on different
 * systems and frames, e.g. a slur that spans over multiple systems
 * or even frames.
 * 
 * It is used in the layouting process, so that the layouter of a
 * system or frame knows which slurs or voltas are still unclosed and
 * have to be painted also in the next system.
 * 
 * A more sophisticated usage is the following situation:
 * The layouter knows if a following frame has to be re-layouted
 * when the current one changes. This allows re-layouting of single
 * frames instead of the whole score, which is very important
 * for the speed of the layouting process.
 * 
 * @author Andreas Wenger
 */
public interface ContinuedElement {

	/**
	 * Gets the MusicElement which is continued.
	 */
	public MusicElement getElement();

}