ITypedElement.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2000, 2005 IBM Corporation and others.
 * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
 *******************************************************************************/
package org.eclipse.emf.compare.rcp.ui.contentmergeviewer.accessor.legacy;

import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Image;

/**
 * Interface for getting the name, image, and type for an object.
 * <p>
 * These methods are typically used to present an input object in the compare UI (<code>getName</code> and
 * <code>getImage</code>) and for finding a viewer for a given input type (<code>getType</code>).
 * <p>
 * Clients may implement this interface.
 * 
 * @author <a href="mailto:xyz@xyz.com">Ibm Corporation</a>
 * @since 4.0
 */
public interface ITypedElement {

	/**
	 * Type for a folder input (value <code>"FOLDER"</code>). Folders are comparison elements that have no
	 * contents, only a name and children.
	 */
	String FOLDER_TYPE = "FOLDER"; //$NON-NLS-1$

	/**
	 * Type for an element whose actual type is text (value <code>"txt"</code>).
	 */
	String TEXT_TYPE = "txt"; //$NON-NLS-1$

	/**
	 * Type for an element whose actual type could not be determined. (value <code>"???"</code>).
	 */
	String UNKNOWN_TYPE = "???"; //$NON-NLS-1$

	/**
	 * Returns the name of this object. The name is used when displaying this object in the UI.
	 * 
	 * @return the name of this object
	 */
	String getName();

	/**
	 * Returns an image for this object. This image is used when displaying this object in the UI.
	 * 
	 * @return the image of this object or <code>null</code> if this type of input has no image
	 */
	Image getImage();

	/**
	 * Returns the type of this object. For objects with a file name this is typically the file extension. For
	 * folders its the constant <code>FOLDER_TYPE</code>. The type is used for determining a suitable viewer
	 * for this object.
	 * 
	 * @return the type of this object
	 */
	String getType();
}