Publishable.java

/*
 *  Weblounge: Web Content Management System
 *  Copyright (c) 2003 - 2011 The Weblounge Team
 *  http://entwinemedia.com/weblounge
 *
 *  This program 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; either version 2
 *  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 Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation
 *  Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
 */

package ch.entwine.weblounge.common.content;

import ch.entwine.weblounge.common.security.User;

import java.util.Date;

/**
 * A <code>Publishable</code> represents an objects that can be published from a
 * given start date to an end date. It also keeps track on who the publisher
 * was.
 */
public interface Publishable {

  /**
   * Returns the user that published the object.
   * 
   * @return the publisher
   */
  User getPublisher();

  /**
   * Returns the publishing start date. This method might return
   * <code>null</code> in order to state that the object will be published until
   * the publishing end date is reached.
   * 
   * @return the publishing start date
   */
  Date getPublishFrom();

  /**
   * Returns the publishing end date. This method might return <code>null</code>
   * in order to state that the object will be published forever.
   * 
   * @return the publishing end date
   */
  Date getPublishTo();

  /**
   * Returns <code>true</code> if the object is published with respect to the
   * current date.
   * 
   * @return <code>true</code> if the object is published
   */
  boolean isPublished();

  /**
   * Returns <code>true</code> if the object is published with respect to the
   * given date.
   * 
   * @return <code>true</code> if the object is published
   */
  boolean isPublished(Date date);

}