IColorDistributor


1   /*
2    *  IColorDistributor.java, interface for choosing visual different colors.
3    *  Copyright (C) Achim Westermann, created on 19.05.2005, 22:01:51
4    *
5    *  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
6    *  modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
7    *  License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
8    *  version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
9    * 
10   *  This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
11   *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
12   *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
13   *  Lesser General Public License for more details.
14   * 
15   *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
16   *  License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
17   *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
18   *
19   *  If you modify or optimize the code in a useful way please let me know.
20   *  Achim.Westermann@gmx.de
21   *
22   */
23  package info.monitorenter.gui.util;
24  
25  /**
26   * An interface for distributing colors.
27   * <p>
28   *
29   * Implementations are keeping track of the java.awt.Color - instances they gave
30   * away during invocation of <code>getColor()</code>. The aim is to provide
31   * an interface that allows to get unique colors from. As all colors given away
32   * are remembered, it is possible to avoid lending the same color several times.
33   * <p>
34   * It will be tricky to implement this in a good way because of the fact that
35   * the ColorLessor should not be limited to a maximum amount of colors, it does
36   * not know how much different colors there will be asked for a priori, the
37   * amount of colors given away should be the most visual different and the
38   * background color should be especially different from all ohter colors given
39   * away.
40   * <p>
41   *
42   * @see info.monitorenter.gui.chart.Chart2D
43   *
44   * @author <a HREF='mailto:Achim.Westermann@gmx.de'>Achim Westermann </a>
45   */
46  
47  public interface IColorDistributor {
48  
49    /**
50     * Puts the given color back into the color- space of free colors.
51     * <p>
52     * Do not forget to give your colors back if not used any more to allow the
53     * biggest possible visual difference of the colors given away.
54     * <p>
55     *
56     * @see #getColor()
57     */
58    public void freeColor(java.awt.Color   color);
59  
60    /**
61     * Returns a color, that has not been retrieved before from this instance.
62     * <p>
63     *
64     * @return a color, that has not been retrieved before from this instance.
65     */
66    public java.awt.Color   getColor();
67  
68    /**
69     * Informs the IColorDistributor that a client already uses the given color.
70     * <p>
71     *
72     * This ensures that the IColorDistributor does never return the given color
73     * to clients. Furthermore implementations may use the given informations of
74     * the color, e.g. an IColorDistributor that tries to return always the most
75     * different colors (from each other).
76     * <p>
77     *
78     * @param color
79     *          the color to reserve.
80     */
81    void reserveColor(java.awt.Color   color);
82  
83    /**
84     * No other color returned from instances must come "too near" to this color
85     * to guarantee a good visibility of the other colors returned.
86     * <p>
87     * Calls to this method are of course optional but should be regarded in the
88     * computations of implemenatations.
89     * <p>
90     *
91     * @param background
92     *          the background color to keep a viewable distance to.
93     */
94    public void setBgColor(final java.awt.Color   background);
95  }
96
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