Notifier.java

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2010 Lockheed Martin Corporation
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package org.eurekastreams.server.action.execution.notification;

import org.eurekastreams.commons.server.UserActionRequest;
import org.eurekastreams.server.domain.NotificationDTO;

/**
 * Interface for notifiers -- strategies which send a notification via a particular medium (email, etc.).
 */
public interface Notifier
{
    /**
     * Sends the notification.
     *
     * @param notification
     *            Notification to send.
     * @throws Exception
     *             If unable to notify user(s).
     * @return - If notifying requires queuing an action, then this returns an instance of {@link UserActionRequest}
     *         which is the AsyncRequest to perform. If no further action is required, then this returns null.
     */
    UserActionRequest notify(NotificationDTO notification) throws Exception;
}