IContentGenerator.java

/*
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the 
 * terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 as published by the Free Software 
 * Foundation.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this 
 * program; if not, you can obtain a copy at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html 
 * or from the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 
 * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * 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 Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 * Copyright 2008 Pentaho Corporation.  All rights reserved.
 *
 */
package org.pentaho.platform.api.engine;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

/**
 * This interface is implemented by bi-platform plugins, and is 
 * instantiated for each content request made to the plugin system via the 
 * IPluginManager API.  Once instantiated, the setter methods are first 
 * called and then createContent() is called to generate the expected content.
 */
public interface IContentGenerator extends ILogger {

  /**
   * the createContent() method is called after the content generator has been 
   * initialized appropriately, and is responsible for populating the output 
   * handler.  
   * 
   * @throws Exception
   */
	public void createContent( ) throws Exception;

	/**
	 * called before createContent(), the IOutputHandler is the API that defines
	 * how to write content back to the client.
	 * 
	 * @param outputHandler
	 */
	public void setOutputHandler(IOutputHandler outputHandler);
	
	/**
	 * called before createContent(), this method is not used by
	 * the content generator system at this time.
	 * 
	 * @param messages a list of messages 
	 */
	public void setMessagesList( List<String> messages );
	
	/**
	 * called before createContent(), the parameterProviders list contain
	 * the available parameters.
	 * 
	 * @param parameterProviders
	 */
	public void setParameterProviders( Map<String,IParameterProvider> parameterProviders );

	/**
	 * called before createContent(), this is the users session object.
	 * 
	 * @param userSession
	 */
	public void setSession( IPentahoSession userSession );

  /**
   * called before createContent(), this is used to build URLs
   *
   * @param urlFactory
   */
  public void setUrlFactory(IPentahoUrlFactory urlFactory);
	
  /**
   * this method is not used at this time
   * 
   * @param callbacks
   */
	public void setCallbacks( List<Object> callbacks );
	
  /**
   * this method is not used at this time
   * 
   * @param instanceId
   */
	public void setInstanceId( String instanceId );
	
  /**
   * Get the name of the output content item for this content generator
   */
  public String getItemName();

  /**
   * Set the name of the output content item for the content generator
   * 
   * @param itemName
   */
  public void setItemName(String itemName);
	
}