001    /**
002     * Copyright 2005-2011 The Kuali Foundation
003     *
004     * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005     * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006     * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007     *
008     * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ecl2.php
009     *
010     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011     * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012     * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013     * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014     * limitations under the License.
015     */
016    package org.kuali.rice.krms.api.engine;
017    
018    import java.util.Map;
019    
020    public interface Engine {
021    
022            /**
023             * Initiates execution of the rules engine.
024             * 
025             * @param selectionCriteria informs the engine of the criteria to use for selection of contexts and agendas
026             * @param facts the facts that the rule engine can use during execution
027             * @param executionOptions defines various options that instruct the rules engine on how to perform it's execution
028             * 
029             * @return the results of engine execution
030             */
031            EngineResults execute(SelectionCriteria selectionCriteria, Facts facts, ExecutionOptions executionOptions);
032    
033        /**
034         * Initiates execution of the rules engine.
035         *
036         * @param selectionCriteria informs the engine of the criteria to use for selection of contexts and agendas
037         * @param facts the facts that the rule engine can use during execution.  Since this signature does not pass in
038         * {@link Term}s, all terms are defined with only a name, and term parameters can not be specified.
039         * @param executionOptions defines various options that instruct the rules engine on how to perform it's execution
040         *
041         * @return the results of engine execution
042         */
043        EngineResults execute(SelectionCriteria selectionCriteria, Map<String, Object> facts, ExecutionOptions executionOptions);
044    
045    }