src/javax/persistence/spi/PersistenceProviderResolver.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 1998, 2009 Oracle. All rights reserved. 
 * 
 * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the 
 * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 
 * which accompanies this distribution. 
 * The Eclipse Public License is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 * and the Eclipse Distribution License is available at 
 * http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php.
 * 
 * The API for this class and its comments are derived from the JPA 2.0 specification 
 * which is developed under the Java Community Process (JSR 317) and is copyright 
 * Sun Microsystems, Inc. 
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     dclarke - Java Persistence 2.0 - Proposed Final Draft (March 13, 2009)
 *     			 Specification and licensing terms available from
 *     		   	 http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317
 *
 * EARLY ACCESS - PUBLIC DRAFT
 * This is an implementation of an early-draft specification developed under the 
 * Java Community Process (JCP) and is made available for testing and evaluation 
 * purposes only. The code is not compatible with any specification of the JCP.
 ******************************************************************************/
package javax.persistence.spi;

import java.util.List;

/**
 * Determine the list of persistence providers available in the runtime
 * environment
 * 
 * Persistence providers are identified by the presence of
 * META-INF/services/javax.persistence.spi.PersistenceProvider files following
 * the Service Provider pattern.
 * 
 * Each META-INF/services/javax.persistence.spi.PersistenceProvider file
 * contains the name of the provider implementation class of the
 * javax.persistence.spi.PersistenceProvider interface.
 * 
 * Implementations must be thread-safe.
 * 
 */
public interface PersistenceProviderResolver {
    /**
     * Returns a list of PersistenceProvider implementations available in the
     * runtime environment.
     * 
     * @return list of persistence providers available in the environment
     */
    List<PersistenceProvider> getPersistenceProviders();
}