/* Copyright (c) 2007-2014 by panayotis.com
 *
 * JavaPlot is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, version 2.
 *
 * JavaPlot is free 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 Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 * along with CrossMobile; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
 *
 * Created on October 14, 2007, 2:36 PM
 */

package com.panayotis.gnuplot.terminal;

import java.io.InputStream;

/**
 * This interface represents any GNUPlot terminal. "Terminal" by the definition
 * of GNUPlot is any device which will present the drawn plots.
 *
 * @author teras
 */
public interface GNUPlotTerminal {

    /**
     * Get the terminal type / terminal name. A list of available terminal names
     * can be found through gnuplot if you issue the command "set term".
     *
     * @return the terminal type
     */
    public String getType();

    /**
     * Get the output filename. Use "" if not output file is desired or needed.
     *
     * @return The output filename
     */
    public String getOutputFile();

    /**
     * This method is executed bu GNUPlot, when the plot has been performed. It
     * actually transfers GNUPlot output to this method, if parsing is required.
     * <p>
     * Note that if no output filename is given, then it <b>is</b> necessary to
     * "consume" this stream, or else a thread lockup might happen.
     *
     * @param stdout The output stream of GNUPlot. Note that since it is
     * required to read from this stream, it is given as InputStream.
     * @return The definition of the error, if something went wrong. If
     * everything is OK, it is necessary to return null.
     */
    public String processOutput(InputStream stdout);
}