/*
 *  RapidMiner
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2001-2008 by Rapid-I and the contributors
 *
 *  Complete list of developers available at our web site:
 *
 *       http://rapid-i.com
 *
 *  This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *  it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
 *  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 *  (at your option) any later version.
 *
 *  This program 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
 *  along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
 */
package com.rapidminer.operator;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.Serializable;

import com.rapidminer.tools.LoggingHandler;


/**
 * This interface must be implemented by all objects that can be input/output
 * objects for Operators. The copy method is necessary in cases where meta
 * operator chains want to copy the input IOContainer before it is given to the
 * children operators. Please note that the method only need to be implemented
 * like a usual <code>clone</code> method for IO objects which can be altered
 * after creation. In all other cases the implementation can simply return the
 * same object. Hence, we use the name <code>copy</code> instead of
 * <code>clone</code>.
 * 
 * @author Ingo Mierswa
 * @version $Id: IOObject.java,v 1.3 2008/05/09 19:23:19 ingomierswa Exp $
 */
public interface IOObject extends Serializable {

    /** Sets the source of this IOObject. */
    public void setSource(String sourceName);

    /** Returns the source of this IOObject (might return null if the source is unknown). */
    public String getSource();
    
	/**
	 * Should return a copy of this IOObject. Please note that the method can
	 * usually be implemented by simply returning the same object (i.e. return
	 * this;). The object needs only to be cloned in cases the IOObject can be
	 * altered after creation. This is for example the case for ExampleSets.
	 */
	public IOObject copy();
    
	/** Writes the object data into a stream. */
	public void write(OutputStream out) throws IOException;
	
    /** Gets the logging associated with the operator currently working on this 
     *  IOObject or the global log service if no operator was set. */
    public LoggingHandler getLog();
    
    /** Sets the current working operator, i.e. the operator which is currently 
     *  working on this IOObject. This might be used for example for logging. */
    public void setWorkingOperator(Operator operator);
}