/*
 * Copyright 1995-1999 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
 * have any questions.
 */

package java.net;

/**
 * This interface defines a factory for <code>URL</code> stream
 * protocol handlers.
 * <p>
 * It is used by the <code>URL</code> class to create a
 * <code>URLStreamHandler</code> for a specific protocol.
 *
 * @author  Arthur van Hoff
 * @see     java.net.URL
 * @see     java.net.URLStreamHandler
 * @since   JDK1.0
 */
public interface URLStreamHandlerFactory {
    /**
     * Creates a new <code>URLStreamHandler</code> instance with the specified
     * protocol.
     *
     * @param   protocol   the protocol ("<code>ftp</code>",
     *                     "<code>http</code>", "<code>nntp</code>", etc.).
     * @return  a <code>URLStreamHandler</code> for the specific protocol.
     * @see     java.net.URLStreamHandler
     */
    URLStreamHandler createURLStreamHandler(String protocol);
}