view java/src/uk/ac/qmul/eecs/ccmi/gui/TemplateEditor.java @ 1:e3935c01cde2 tip

moved license of PdPersistenceManager to the beginning of the file

/*  
 CCmI Editor - A Collaborative Cross-Modal Diagram Editing Tool
  
 Copyright (C) 2011  Queen Mary University of London (http://ccmi.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/)

 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 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 General Public License for more details.

 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*/

package uk.ac.qmul.eecs.ccmi.gui;

import java.awt.Frame;
import java.util.Collection;

/**
 * A template editor is used to create new types of diagrams. 
 * 
 * Template editors are run in the Event Dispatching Thread and can therefore make use of <i>Swing</i> components
 * to prompt the user with choices about the diagram to be created. The diagram created by 
 * a template editor is precisely a prototype.
 * Such prototypes diagrams will then be used 
 * to create new diagram instances (the actual diagrams operated by the user) through clonation.    
 * When a diagram prototype is created, it's added in the File->new Diagram menu. 
 */
public interface TemplateEditor {
	
	/**
	 * Creates a new {@code Diagram}
	 * 
	 * @param frame the frame where the template editor is run
	 * @param existingTemplates the names of already existing templates. The creation 
	 * of a new {@code Diagram} with an already existing name must be prevented in order
	 * to keep the consistency of the diagram templates. 
	 * 
	 * @return a new {@code Diagram} prototype
	 */
	public Diagram createNew(Frame frame, Collection<String> existingTemplates);
	
	/**
	 * Edits an existing {@code Diagram} prototype.  
	 *  
	 * @param frame the frame where the template editor is run
	 * @param existingTemplates the names of already existing templates. The creation 
	 * of a new {@code Diagram} with an already existing name must be prevented in order
	 * to keep the consistency of the diagram templates. 
	 * @param diagram the diagram to edit 
	 * @return a changed version of {@code diagram} 
	 */
	public Diagram edit(Frame frame, Collection<String> existingTemplates, Diagram diagram);
	
	/**
	 * Templates editor methods are going to be called by the user via a menu item. This method
	 * returns the label {@code createNew} menu item.
	 * 
	 * @return a label for the menu item which triggers the creation of a new template through this
	 * template editor
	 */
	public String getLabelForNew();
	
	/**
	 * Templates editor methods are going to be called by the user via a menu item. This method
	 * returns the label {@code edit} menu item.
	 * 
	 * @return a label for the menu item which triggers the editing of a new template through this
	 * template editor
	 */
	public String getLabelForEdit();
}