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1   /*
2    * ModeShape (http://www.modeshape.org)
3    * See the COPYRIGHT.txt file distributed with this work for information
4    * regarding copyright ownership.  Some portions may be licensed
5    * to Red Hat, Inc. under one or more contributor license agreements.
6    * See the AUTHORS.txt file in the distribution for a full listing of 
7    * individual contributors. 
8    *
9    * ModeShape is free software. Unless otherwise indicated, all code in ModeShape
10   * is licensed to you under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
11   * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of
12   * the License, or (at your option) any later version.
13   *
14   * ModeShape is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
15   * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
16   * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
17   * Lesser General Public License for more details.
18   *
19   * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
20   * License along with this software; if not, write to the Free
21   * Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
22   * 02110-1301 USA, or see the FSF site: http://www.fsf.org.
23   */
24  package org.modeshape.graph.property;
25  
26  import java.io.Serializable;
27  import net.jcip.annotations.Immutable;
28  import org.modeshape.common.text.TextEncoder;
29  
30  /**
31   * A representation of a reference to another node. Node references may not necessarily resolve to an existing node.
32   */
33  @Immutable
34  public interface Reference extends Comparable<Reference>, Serializable {
35  
36      /**
37       * Get the string form of the Reference. The {@link Path#DEFAULT_ENCODER default encoder} is used to encode characters in the
38       * reference.
39       * 
40       * @return the encoded string
41       * @see #getString(TextEncoder)
42       */
43      public String getString();
44  
45      /**
46       * Get the encoded string form of the Reference, using the supplied encoder to encode characters in the reference.
47       * 
48       * @param encoder the encoder to use, or null if the {@link Path#DEFAULT_ENCODER default encoder} should be used
49       * @return the encoded string
50       * @see #getString()
51       */
52      public String getString( TextEncoder encoder );
53  
54  }