RemoteResource.java

/*
 * Copyright 2015 the original author or authors.
 *
 * 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 org.springframework.cloud.client.hypermedia;

import org.springframework.hateoas.Link;

/**
 * A REST resource that can be discovered and can be either gone or available.
 *
 * @author Oliver Gierke
 */
public interface RemoteResource {

	/**
	 * Returns the {@link Link} to the resource in case it is available or {@literal null}
	 * in case it's gone, i.e. either generally unavailable or can't be discovered.
	 */
	Link getLink();

	/**
	 * Discovers the the resource in case it hasn't been yet or became unavailable. In
	 * case a link has been discovered previously, it is verified and either confirmed or
	 * the link is removed to indicate it's not available anymore.
	 */
	void verifyOrDiscover();
}