/*

  * Copyright 2007 The Kuali Foundation

  *

  * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 1.0 (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/ecl1.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.kns.uif.control;

 import org.kuali.rice.kns.uif.core.Component;

 /**

  * Represents an interactive element in the UI (typically an HTML control)

  * <p>

  * Each control that can be rendered in the UIF should be an implement the

  * <code>Control</code> interface. The control is a regular component, thus has

  * a corresponding template that will render the control for the UI. Controls

  * provide the mechanism for gathering data from the User or for the User to

  * initiate an action. HTML controls must be rendered within a <code>Form</code>

  * element.

  * </p>

  * 

  * @author Kuali Rice Team (rice.collab@kuali.org)

  */

 public interface Control extends Component {

         /**

          * Unique index of the control within the tab order

          * <p>

          * Tab index provides a way to set the order users will tab through the

          * controls. The control with index 1 will receive focus when the page is

          * rendered. Tabing from the field will then take the user to the control

          * with index 2, then index 3, and so on.

          * </p>

          * 

          * @return int the tab index for the control

          */

         public int getTabIndex();

 }