/*
 * Copyright 2000-2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code 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
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
 * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or
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 */

package java.awt.datatransfer;

import java.util.List;


/**
 * A FlavorMap which relaxes the traditional 1-to-1 restriction of a Map. A
 * flavor is permitted to map to any number of natives, and likewise a native
 * is permitted to map to any number of flavors. FlavorTables need not be
 * symmetric, but typically are.
 *
 * @author David Mendenhall
 *
 * @since 1.4
 */
public interface FlavorTable extends FlavorMap {

    /**
     * Returns a <code>List</code> of <code>String</code> natives to which the
     * specified <code>DataFlavor</code> corresponds. The <code>List</code>
     * will be sorted from best native to worst. That is, the first native will
     * best reflect data in the specified flavor to the underlying native
     * platform. The returned <code>List</code> is a modifiable copy of this
     * <code>FlavorTable</code>'s internal data. Client code is free to modify
     * the <code>List</code> without affecting this object.
     *
     * @param flav the <code>DataFlavor</code> whose corresponding natives
     *        should be returned. If <code>null</code> is specified, all
     *        natives currently known to this <code>FlavorTable</code> are
     *        returned in a non-deterministic order.
     * @return a <code>java.util.List</code> of <code>java.lang.String</code>
     *         objects which are platform-specific representations of platform-
     *         specific data formats
     */
    List<String> getNativesForFlavor(DataFlavor flav);

    /**
     * Returns a <code>List</code> of <code>DataFlavor</code>s to which the
     * specified <code>String</code> corresponds. The <code>List</code> will be
     * sorted from best <code>DataFlavor</code> to worst. That is, the first
     * <code>DataFlavor</code> will best reflect data in the specified
     * native to a Java application. The returned <code>List</code> is a
     * modifiable copy of this <code>FlavorTable</code>'s internal data.
     * Client code is free to modify the <code>List</code> without affecting
     * this object.
     *
     * @param nat the native whose corresponding <code>DataFlavor</code>s
     *        should be returned. If <code>null</code> is specified, all
     *        <code>DataFlavor</code>s currently known to this
     *        <code>FlavorTable</code> are returned in a non-deterministic
     *        order.
     * @return a <code>java.util.List</code> of <code>DataFlavor</code>
     *         objects into which platform-specific data in the specified,
     *         platform-specific native can be translated
     */
    List<DataFlavor> getFlavorsForNative(String nat);
}