/**
* Copyright 2007-2008 University Of Southern California
*
* 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 edu.isi.pegasus.planner.catalog;
import java.util.Properties;
/**
* This interface create a common ancestor for all cataloging
* interfaces.
*
* @author Jens-S. Vöckler
* @author Yong Zhao
* @version $Revision$
*/
public interface Catalog{
/**
* The default DB Driver properties prefix.
*/
public static final String DB_ALL_PREFIX = "pegasus.catalog.*.db";
/**
* Establishes a link between the implementation and the thing the
* implementation is build upon. <p>
* FIXME: The cause for failure is lost without exceptions.
*
* @param props contains all necessary data to establish the link.
* @return true if connected now, or false to indicate a failure.
*/
public boolean connect( Properties props );
/**
* Explicitely free resources before the garbage collection hits.
*/
public void close();
/**
* Predicate to check, if the connection with the catalog's
* implementation is still active. This helps determining, if it makes
* sense to call <code>close()</code>.
*
* @return true, if the implementation is disassociated, false otherwise.
* @see #close()
*/
public boolean isClosed();
}