source: trunk/autoquest-htmlmonitor/src/main/java/de/ugoe/cs/autoquest/htmlmonitor/HtmlMonitorComponent.java @ 871

package de.ugoe.cs.autoquest.htmlmonitor;

/**
 * <p>
 * convenience interface for all components making up the HTML monitor. All components implement
 * this interface to ensure homogeneity throughout them. A component must first be initialized
 * ({@link #init()}), then started ({@link #start()}) and finally stopped ({@link #stop()}).
 * </p>
 * 
 * @author Patrick Harms
 */
interface HtmlMonitorComponent {

    /**
     * initializes a component, i.e. it does everything needed to prepare starting the component
     * 
     * @throws IllegalStateException thrown if the method was already called before but
     *                               {@link #stop()} wasn't called yet
     * @throws HtmlMonitorException  thrown if the initialization fails, e.g. because needed infos
     *                               are missing
     */
    void init() throws IllegalStateException, HtmlMonitorException;

    /**
     * starts a component
     * 
     * @throws IllegalStateException thrown if {@link #init()} wasn't called yet of if the component
     *                               is already started through a preceding call to this method
     * @throws HtmlMonitorException  thrown if the startup fails, e.g. because needed infos
     *                               are missing
     */
    void start() throws IllegalStateException, HtmlMonitorException;

    /**
     * stops a component and cleans up any derivate. In the following, {@link #init()} must be
     * callable again. If the component is not initialized or started, nothing must happen. If the
     * component is initialized but not started, the initialization is revoked.
     */
    void stop();
}