/**

  * Copyright 2005-2011 The Kuali Foundation

  *

  * Licensed under the Educational Community 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.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php

  *

  * 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.

  */

 package org.kuali.rice.core.api.namespace;

 import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Coded;

 import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.GloballyUnique;

 import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.Versioned;

 import org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo.common.active.Inactivatable;

 /**

  * Defines the contract for a Namespace.  A namespace is a mechanism for partitioning of data into

  * areas of responsibility.  Since much of the Kuali Rice middleware is shared across multiple integrating

  * applications, this notion of a namespace is a critical element in keeping related data elements

  * grouped together and isolated from those to which they should have no relation or access.

  */

 public interface NamespaceContract extends Versioned, GloballyUnique, Inactivatable, Coded {

     /**

      * This the id of the application which owns this Namespace.  This cannot be null or a blank string.

      *

      * <p>

      * It is a way of assigning the Namespace to a specific rice application or rice ecosystem.

      * </p>

      *

      * @return application id

      */

     String getApplicationId();

     /**

      * This the name for the Namespace.  This can be null or a blank string.

      *

      * @return name

      */

     String getName();

 }