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.factory;
017    
018    import javax.swing.JComponent;
019    
020    /**
021     * A factory for producing GUI control components.
022     *
023     * @author Keith Donald
024     */
025    public interface ControlFactory {
026    
027            /**
028             * Returns the control that this factory is responsible for producing.
029             * Depending on the implementation, this control may or not be a singleton
030             * instance.
031             *
032             * @return The control, never <code>null</code>.
033             */
034            public JComponent getControl();
035    
036    }