/*
 * @(#)Transferable.java	1.13 03/12/19
 *
 * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 */

package java.awt.datatransfer;

import java.io.IOException;

/**
 * Defines the interface for classes that can be used to provide data
 * for a transfer operation.
 * <p>
 * For information on using data transfer with Swing, see
 * <a href="http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/dnd.html">
 * How to Use Drag and Drop and Data Transfer</a>,
 * a section in <em>The Java Tutorial</em>, for more information.
 *
 * @version 	1.13, 12/19/03
 * @author	Amy Fowler  
 */

public interface Transferable {

    /**
     * Returns an array of DataFlavor objects indicating the flavors the data 
     * can be provided in.  The array should be ordered according to preference
     * for providing the data (from most richly descriptive to least descriptive).
     * @return an array of data flavors in which this data can be transferred
     */
    public DataFlavor[] getTransferDataFlavors();

    /**
     * Returns whether or not the specified data flavor is supported for
     * this object.
     * @param flavor the requested flavor for the data
     * @return boolean indicating whether or not the data flavor is supported
     */
    public boolean isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor flavor);

    /**
     * Returns an object which represents the data to be transferred.  The class 
     * of the object returned is defined by the representation class of the flavor.
     *
     * @param flavor the requested flavor for the data
     * @see DataFlavor#getRepresentationClass
     * @exception IOException                if the data is no longer available
     *              in the requested flavor.
     * @exception UnsupportedFlavorException if the requested data flavor is
     *              not supported.
     */
    public Object getTransferData(DataFlavor flavor) throws UnsupportedFlavorException, IOException;

}