PerspectiveController.java

/*
Copyright 2008-2011 Gephi
Authors : Mathieu Bastian <mathieu.bastian@gephi.org>
Website : http://www.gephi.org

This file is part of Gephi.

DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS HEADER.

Copyright 2011 Gephi Consortium. All rights reserved.

The contents of this file are subject to the terms of either the GNU
General Public License Version 3 only ("GPL") or the Common
Development and Distribution License("CDDL") (collectively, the
"License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the
License. You can obtain a copy of the License at
http://gephi.org/about/legal/license-notice/
or /cddl-1.0.txt and /gpl-3.0.txt. See the License for the
specific language governing permissions and limitations under the
License.  When distributing the software, include this License Header
Notice in each file and include the License files at
/cddl-1.0.txt and /gpl-3.0.txt. If applicable, add the following below the
License Header, with the fields enclosed by brackets [] replaced by
your own identifying information:
"Portions Copyrighted [year] [name of copyright owner]"

If you wish your version of this file to be governed by only the CDDL
or only the GPL Version 3, indicate your decision by adding
"[Contributor] elects to include this software in this distribution
under the [CDDL or GPL Version 3] license." If you do not indicate a
single choice of license, a recipient has the option to distribute
your version of this file under either the CDDL, the GPL Version 3 or
to extend the choice of license to its licensees as provided above.
However, if you add GPL Version 3 code and therefore, elected the GPL
Version 3 license, then the option applies only if the new code is
made subject to such option by the copyright holder.

Contributor(s):

Portions Copyrighted 2011 Gephi Consortium.
 */
package org.gephi.perspective.api;

import org.gephi.perspective.spi.Perspective;
import org.gephi.perspective.spi.PerspectiveMember;

/**
 * Controller to manage the perspective system. A perspective is a set of panels
 * in the user interface. 'Overview', 'Data Laboratory' and 'Preview' are the
 * default perspectives.
 * <p>
 * The default perspective implementations can be found in the 'Desktop Perspective'
 * module.
 * <p>
 * The property <b>org.gephi.perspective.default</b> can be added at startup to change the default starting perspective:
 * <ul><li>org.gephi.perspective.default=OverviewGroup</li>
 * <li>org.gephi.perspective.default=LaboratoryGroup</li>
 * <li>org.gephi.perspective.default=PreviewGroup</li></ul>
 * 
 * @see Perspective
 * @see PerspectiveMember
 * @author Mathieu Bastian
 */
public interface PerspectiveController {

    /**
     * Returns the selected perspective or <code>null</code> if no perspective
     * is selected. By default the 'Overview' perspective is selected.
     * @return the currently selected perspective or <code>null</code>
     */
    public Perspective getSelectedPerspective();

    /**
     * Returns all perspectives installed. This is equivalent to
     * <code>Lookup.getDefault().lookupAll(Perspective.class)</code>.
     * @return all installed perspectives
     */
    public Perspective[] getPerspectives();

    /**
     * Switch the current perspective to the given perspective. Only one perspective
     * can be selected at a time.
     * @param perspective the perspective to select
     */
    public void selectPerspective(Perspective perspective);
}