IPersistableElement


1   /*******************************************************************************
2    * Copyright (c) 2000, 2005 IBM Corporation and others.
3    * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
4    * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
5    * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
6    * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
7    *
8    * Contributors:
9    *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
10   *******************************************************************************/
11  package org.eclipse.ui;
12  
13  
14  /**
15   * Interface for asking an object to store its state in a memento.
16   * <p>
17   * This interface is typically included in interfaces where 
18   * persistance is required.
19   * </p><p>
20   * When the workbench is shutdown objects which implement this interface 
21   * will be persisted.  At this time the <code>getFactoryId</code> method 
22   * is invoked to discover the id of the element factory that will be used 
23   * to re-create the object from a memento.  Then the <code>saveState</code> 
24   * method is invoked to store the element data into a newly created memento. 
25   * The resulting mementos are collected up and written out to a single file.
26   * </p>
27   * <p>
28   * During workbench startup these mementos are read from the file.  The
29   * factory Id for each is retrieved and mapped to an <code>IElementFactory</code> 
30   * which has been registered in the element factory extension point.  If a 
31   * factory exists for the Id it will be engaged to re-create the original 
32   * object.
33   * </p>
34   *
35   * @see org.eclipse.core.runtime.IAdaptable
36   * @see org.eclipse.ui.IMemento
37   * @see org.eclipse.ui.IElementFactory
38   */
39  public interface IPersistableElement extends IPersistable {
40      /**
41       * Returns the id of the element factory which should be used to re-create this
42       * object.
43       * <p>
44       * Factory ids are declared in extensions to the standard extension point
45       * <code>"org.eclipse.ui.elementFactories"</code>.
46       * </p>
47       * 
48       * @return the element factory id
49       * @see IElementFactory
50       */
51      public String   getFactoryId();
52  }
53
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