PerspectiveMember.java

/*
Copyright 2008-2010 Gephi
Authors : Mathieu Bastian <mathieu.bastian@gephi.org>
Website : http://www.gephi.org

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 */
package org.gephi.perspective.spi;

/**
 * Interface to attach a <code>TopComponent</code> to the perspective it belongs.
 * <p>
 * This commands whether a panel should be visible or closed on a particular perspective.
 * <h3>HowTo attach a TopComponent to a perspective</h3>
 * <ol><li>Create a new class which implements the <code>PerspectiveMember</code> interface</li>
 * <li>Implement the <code>isMemberOf()</code> method. Simply test if the given
 * perspective is the one you want to attach the component. For default perspectives, first
 * add a dependency to the <code>DesktopPerspective</code> module and then for instance with preview:
 * <pre>public boolean isMemberOf(Perspective perspective) {
 * return perspective instanceof PreviewPerspective;
 * }</pre></li>
 * <li>Return the unique <code>TopComponent</code> identifier for the <code>getTopComponentId()</code>
 * method. The identifier is defined in the <code>TopComponent</code> annotations.</li>
 * <li>Add <code>@ServiceProvider</code> annotation to your class to be found by
 * the system, like <b>@ServiceProvider(service = PerspectiveMember.class)</b>.</li>
 * </ol>
 * @see Perspective
 * @author Mathieu Bastian
 */
public interface PerspectiveMember {

    /**
     * Returns <code>true</code> if the component belongs to this perspective.
     * @param perspective the perspective to test if the component is member of
     * @return <code>true</code> if this component is member of <code>perspective</code>,
     * <code>false</code> otherwise
     */
    public boolean isMemberOf(Perspective perspective);

    /**
     * Return the <code>TopComponent</code>'s unique identifier. This id is
     * assigned by NetBeans when creating a new component and can be found
     * at the top of the class, in the annotations.
     * @return the <code>TopComponent</code> identifier.
     */
    public String getTopComponentId();
}