/*
 *  RapidMiner
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2001-2011 by Rapid-I and the contributors
 *
 *  Complete list of developers available at our web site:
 *
 *       http://rapid-i.com
 *
 *  This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *  it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
 *  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 *  (at your option) any later version.
 *
 *  This program 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
 *  along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
 */
package com.rapidminer.operator.ports;

import com.rapidminer.operator.ExecutionUnit;
import com.rapidminer.operator.Operator;
import com.rapidminer.operator.OperatorChain;


/** The owner of a port. Ports belonging to an operator may have different connection contexts:
 *  An outer port's connection context is the {@link ExecutionUnit} that contains the operator,
 *  whereas an inner port's connection context is the subprocess it belongs to. The {@link OperatorChain}
 *  returned by {@link #getPortHandler()} is the operator chain that should be displayed by the
 *  process renderer when editing this port. For outer ports, this is the enclosing operator chain
 *  and for inner ports it it the operator itself.
 * 
 * @author Simon Fischer
 */
public interface PortOwner {

	/** Returns the operator to which these ports are attached. */
	public Operator getOperator();
	
	/** Returns the operator that should be displayed by the GUI if ports are edited.
	 *  If this is an inner port, this is the operator itself. If it is an outer port, it is the
	 *  operator containing the enclosing process. */
	public OperatorChain getPortHandler();
	
	/** Returns a human readable name used for error messages and gui. */
	public String getName();
		
	/** Two ports can connect iff they belong to the same connection context. */
	public ExecutionUnit getConnectionContext();
}