001    /*
002     * Copyright 2002-2004 the original author or authors.
003     *
004     * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
005     * use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
006     * the License at
007     *
008     * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009     *
010     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011     * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
012     * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
013     * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
014     * the License.
015     */
016    package org.springframework.richclient.core;
017    
018    /**
019     * An application component, usually a visible GUI component, that can provide
020     * information describing itself.
021     *
022     * @author Keith Donald
023     */
024    public interface DescribedElement {
025    
026            /**
027             * The property name used when firing events for the {@code displayName}
028             * property.
029             */
030            public static final String DISPLAY_NAME_PROPERTY = "displayName";
031    
032            /**
033             * The property name used when firing events for the {@code caption}
034             * property.
035             */
036            public static final String CAPTION_PROPERTY = "caption";
037    
038            /**
039             * The property name used when firing events for the {@code description}
040             * property.
041             */
042            public static final String DESCRIPTION_PROPERTY = "description";
043    
044            /**
045             * Returns the display name of this object.
046             *
047             * @return The display name, or <code>null</code>.
048             */
049            public String getDisplayName();
050    
051            /**
052             * Returns the caption for this object.
053             *
054             * @return The caption, or <code>null</code>.
055             */
056            public String getCaption();
057    
058            /**
059             * Returns a description of this object.
060             *
061             * @return The description, or <code>null</code>.
062             */
063            public String getDescription();
064    
065    }