bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/Eclipse UI/org/eclipse/ui/commands/ICategory.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2000, 2005 IBM Corporation and others.
 * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
 *******************************************************************************/

package org.eclipse.ui.commands;

/**
 * <p>
 * A category is a grouping of commands by functional area. For example, in the
 * Eclipse workbench, "Text Editing" is a category containing various commands
 * related to text editing. A category's primary functionality is to control the
 * display of commands to the user. When appropriate, commands displayed to the
 * user (e.g., keys preference page) will be grouped by category.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * An instance of <code>ICategory</code> is a handle representing a category
 * as defined by the extension point <code>org.eclipse.ui.commands</code>.
 * The identifier of the handle is identifier of the category being represented.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * An instance of <code>ICategory</code> can be obtained from an instance of
 * <code>ICommandManager</code> for any identifier, whether or not a category
 * with that identifier defined in the plugin registry.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * The handle-based nature of this API allows it to work well with runtime
 * plugin activation and deactivation, which causes dynamic changes to the
 * plugin registry, and therefore, potentially, dynamic changes to the set of
 * category definitions.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * This interface is not intended to be extended or implemented by clients.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @since 3.0
 * @see ICategoryListener
 * @see ICommandManager
 * @see org.eclipse.core.commands.Category
 * @deprecated Please use the "org.eclipse.core.commands" plug-in instead.
 */
public interface ICategory extends Comparable {

    /**
     * Registers an instance of <code>ICategoryListener</code> to listen for
     * changes to attributes of this instance.
     * 
     * @param categoryListener
     *            the instance of <code>ICategoryListener</code> to register.
     *            Must not be <code>null</code>. If an attempt is made to
     *            register an instance of <code>ICategoryListener</code>
     *            which is already registered with this instance, no operation
     *            is performed.
     */
    void addCategoryListener(ICategoryListener categoryListener);

    /**
     * <p>
     * Returns the description of the category represented by this handle,
     * suitable for display to the user.
     * </p>
     * <p>
     * Notification is sent to all registered listeners if this attribute
     * changes.
     * </p>
     * 
     * @return the description of the category represented by this handle.
     *         Guaranteed not to be <code>null</code>.
     * @throws NotDefinedException
     *             if the category represented by this handle is not defined.
     */
    String getDescription() throws NotDefinedException;

    /**
     * Returns the identifier of this handle.
     * 
     * @return the identifier of this handle. Guaranteed not to be <code>null</code>.
     */
    String getId();

    /**
     * <p>
     * Returns the name of the category represented by this handle, suitable
     * for display to the user.
     * </p>
     * <p>
     * Notification is sent to all registered listeners if this attribute
     * changes.
     * </p>
     * 
     * @return the name of the category represented by this handle. Guaranteed
     *         not to be <code>null</code>.
     * @throws NotDefinedException
     *             if the category represented by this handle is not defined.
     */
    String getName() throws NotDefinedException;

    /**
     * <p>
     * Returns whether or not the category represented by this handle is
     * defined.
     * </p>
     * <p>
     * Notification is sent to all registered listeners if this attribute
     * changes.
     * </p>
     * 
     * @return <code>true</code>, iff the category represented by this
     *         handle is defined.
     */
    boolean isDefined();

    /**
     * Unregisters an instance of <code>ICategoryListener</code> listening
     * for changes to attributes of this instance.
     * 
     * @param categoryListener
     *            the instance of <code>ICategoryListener</code> to
     *            unregister. Must not be <code>null</code>. If an attempt
     *            is made to unregister an instance of <code>ICategoryListener</code>
     *            which is not already registered with this instance, no
     *            operation is performed.
     */
    void removeCategoryListener(ICategoryListener categoryListener);
}