/*
* Copyright (C) 2009 eXo Platform SAS.
*
* This 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 software 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 software; if not, write to the Free
* Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
* 02110-1301 USA, or see the FSF site: http://www.fsf.org.
*/
package org.exoplatform.commons.utils;
/**
* A Service Provider Interface for a list access.
*
* @author <a href="mailto:julien.viet@exoplatform.com">Julien Viet</a>
* @version $Revision$
* @LevelAPI Platform
*/
public interface ListAccess<E>
{
/**
* <p>Retrieves an array of object from the list. The returned array size is expected to
* be equals to the length argument.</p>
*
* <p>The index value and the lenght value cannot be negative, and the sum of the index and
* the length cannot be greater than the list size. Those values are considered as non correct.<p>
*
* @param index the index
* @param length the limit
* @return the array
* @throws Exception any exception that would prevent access to the list
* @throws IllegalArgumentException if the index value or the length value are not correct
*/
E[] load(int index, int length) throws Exception, IllegalArgumentException;
/**
* Returns the list size.
*
* @return the size
* @throws Exception any exception that would prevent access to the list
*/
int getSize() throws Exception;
}