/**
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Copyright (C) 2007 Matthias Braeuer (braeuer.matthias@web.de). *
* All rights reserved. *
* *
* This work was done as a project at the Chair for Software Technology, *
* Dresden University Of Technology, Germany (http://st.inf.tu-dresden.de). *
* It is understood that any modification not identified as such is not *
* covered by the preceding statement. *
* *
* This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it *
* under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published *
* by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or *
* (at your option) any later version. *
* *
* This work 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 Library General Public *
* License for more details. *
* *
* You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License *
* along with this library; if not, you can view it online at *
* http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html. *
* *
* To submit a bug report, send a comment, or get the latest news on this *
* project, please visit the website: http://dresden-ocl.sourceforge.net. *
* For more information on OCL and related projects visit the OCL Portal: *
* http://st.inf.tu-dresden.de/ocl *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
* $Id$
*/
package org.dresdenocl.modelinstance;
import java.io.File;
import java.net.URL;
import org.dresdenocl.model.IModel;
import org.dresdenocl.model.ModelAccessException;
import org.dresdenocl.modelinstancetype.types.IModelInstanceElement;
/**
* <p>
* An {@link IModelInstanceProvider} provides the possibility to load a model
* instance for a given {@link IModel} and a given resource or name representing
* the {@link IModelInstance}.
* </p>
*
* @author Matthias Braeuer
*/
public interface IModelInstanceProvider {
/**
* <p>
* Creates an empty {@link IModelInstance} for a given {@link IModel}.
* </p>
*
* <p>
* The {@link IModelInstance} can be filled with {@link IModelInstanceElement}
* later, using the method
* {@link IModelInstance#addModelInstanceElement(Object)}.
* </p>
*
* @param model
* The {@link IModel} for that an empty {@link IModelInstance} shall
* be created.
* @return The created, empty {@link IModelInstance}.
*/
IModelInstance createEmptyModelInstance(IModel model);
/**
* <p>
* Loads an IModelInstance for a given name and a given {@link IModel}.
*
* @param modelInstanceFile
* The {@link File} of the {@link IModelInstance} which shall be
* returned.
* @return An {@link IModelInstance}.
*/
IModelInstance getModelInstance(File modelInstanceFile, IModel model)
throws ModelAccessException;
/**
* <p>
* Loads an IModelInstance for a given name and a given {@link IModel}.
*
* @param modelInstanceName
* The name of the {@link IModelInstance} which shall be returned.
* @return An {@link IModelInstance}.
*/
IModelInstance getModelInstance(String modelInstanceName, IModel model)
throws ModelAccessException;
/**
* <p>
* Loads an IModelInstance for a given name and a given {@link IModel}.
*
* @param modelInstanceUrl
* The {@link URL} of the {@link IModelInstance} which shall be
* returned.
* @return An {@link IModelInstance}.
*/
IModelInstance getModelInstance(URL modelInstanceUrl, IModel model)
throws ModelAccessException;
}