001    /*
002     * JBoss DNA (http://www.jboss.org/dna)
003     * See the COPYRIGHT.txt file distributed with this work for information
004     * regarding copyright ownership.  Some portions may be licensed
005     * to Red Hat, Inc. under one or more contributor license agreements.
006     * See the AUTHORS.txt file in the distribution for a full listing of 
007     * individual contributors. 
008     *
009     * JBoss DNA is free software. Unless otherwise indicated, all code in JBoss DNA
010     * is licensed to you under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
011     * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of
012     * the License, or (at your option) any later version.
013     *
014     * JBoss DNA is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
015     * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
016     * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
017     * Lesser General Public License for more details.
018     *
019     * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
020     * License along with this software; if not, write to the Free
021     * Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
022     * 02110-1301 USA, or see the FSF site: http://www.fsf.org.
023     */
024    package org.jboss.dna.graph.property;
025    
026    import java.io.Serializable;
027    import net.jcip.annotations.Immutable;
028    import org.jboss.dna.common.text.TextEncoder;
029    
030    /**
031     * A representation of a reference to another node. Node references may not necessarily resolve to an existing node.
032     * @author Randall Hauch
033     */
034    @Immutable
035    public interface Reference extends Comparable<Reference>, Serializable {
036    
037        /**
038         * Get the string form of the Reference. The {@link Path#DEFAULT_ENCODER default encoder} is used to encode characters in the
039         * reference.
040         * @return the encoded string
041         * @see #getString(TextEncoder)
042         */
043        public String getString();
044    
045        /**
046         * Get the encoded string form of the Reference, using the supplied encoder to encode characters in the reference.
047         * @param encoder the encoder to use, or null if the {@link Path#DEFAULT_ENCODER default encoder} should be used
048         * @return the encoded string
049         * @see #getString()
050         */
051        public String getString( TextEncoder encoder );
052    
053    }