package org.apache.ojb.broker.metadata;

 /* Copyright 2002-2005 The Apache Software Foundation

  *

  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");

  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.

  * You may obtain a copy of the License at

  *

  *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  *

  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,

  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and

  * limitations under the License.

  */

 import java.io.Serializable;

 /**

  * This interface defines methods that are required for an object

  * to support the nested "attribute" tag in the repository file.

  * @author                Ron Gallagher

  */

 public interface AttributeContainer extends Serializable

 {

         /**

      * Store the specified attribute and it's value.

      * @param attributeName the name of the attribute to retrieve

      * @param attributeValue the attribute's value

      */

     public void addAttribute(String attributeName, String attributeValue);

     /**

      * Get the value of an attribute

      * @param attributeName the attribute to retrieve

      * @param defaultValue the value to return if the attribute is not present

      * @return the attribute value

      */

     public String getAttribute(String attributeName, String defaultValue);

     /**

      * Get the value of an attribute

      * @param attributeName the attribute to retrieve

      * @return the attribute value

      */

     public String getAttribute(String attributeName);

 }