1 /*** 2 * 3 * Copyright 2004 Hiram Chirino 4 * 5 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 6 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 7 * You may obtain a copy of the License at 8 * 9 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 10 * 11 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 12 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 13 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 14 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 15 * limitations under the License. 16 */ 17 18 package org.activeio; 19 20 21 /*** 22 * A Channel provides a standard procedure for regulating data transmission between 23 * applications. 24 * 25 * The activeio API encourages that layered wire protocols be created by wiring 26 * together a chain of Channel objects. 27 * 28 * @version $Revision$ 29 */ 30 public interface Channel extends Disposable, Service { 31 32 /*** 33 * Since a Channel may be composed from a chain of other Channel obejcts, 34 * this method allows you to query the chain for the specified {@param target} interface. 35 * 36 * The first Channel in the chain the implments the requested interface will be return 37 * an implementing object. If no Channel in the chain implements the requested class, 38 * then null is returned. 39 */ 40 Object narrow(Class target); 41 }