/*
 This file is part of the software framework JStatCom, 
 a library for building applications for data based analysis.

 Copyright (C) 2000-2005  Markus Kraetzig

 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
 published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
 License, or (at your option) any later version.

 This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
 Lesser General Public License for more details.

 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
 USA
 */

package com.jstatcom.project;

import com.jstatcom.model.JSCData;

/**
 * Interface to be implemented for all project data types. Implementations must
 * be XML serializable storage containers for the data.
 * 
 * @author Markus Kraetzig 
 */
public interface ProjectData {
    /**
     * Gets the description for the stored project data.
     * 
     * @return description string
     */
    public String getDescription();

    /**
     * Sets the description for the stored project data.
     * 
     * @param dataDescription
     *            description string
     */
    public void setDescription(String dataDescription);

    /**
     * Sets the data to be stored as a JSCData array.
     * Implementation classes should document how the argument array should be
     * assembled.
     * 
     * @param dataArray
     *            data to be stored
     */
    public void setJSCData(JSCData[] dataArray);

    /**
     * Gets the data that has been stored as a JSCData array.
     * Implementation classes should document how the returned array is
     * assembled.
     * 
     * @return data array
     */
    public JSCData[] getJSCData();

    /**
     * Gets the type of the data that has been stored.
     * 
     * @return project data type
     */
    public ProjectDataTypes getProjectDataType();

}