/*
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS HEADER.
 *
 * Copyright 2010 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 *
 * Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
 * Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
 *
 * The contents of this file are subject to the terms of either the GNU
 * General Public License Version 2 only ("GPL") or the Common
 * Development and Distribution License("CDDL") (collectively, the
 * "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the
 * License. You can obtain a copy of the License at
 * http://www.netbeans.org/cddl-gplv2.html
 * or nbbuild/licenses/CDDL-GPL-2-CP. See the License for the
 * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the
 * License.  When distributing the software, include this License Header
 * Notice in each file and include the License file at
 * nbbuild/licenses/CDDL-GPL-2-CP.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Oracle in the GPL Version 2 section of the License file that
 * accompanied this code. If applicable, add the following below the
 * License Header, with the fields enclosed by brackets [] replaced by
 * your own identifying information:
 * "Portions Copyrighted [year] [name of copyright owner]"
 *
 * If you wish your version of this file to be governed by only the CDDL
 * or only the GPL Version 2, indicate your decision by adding
 * "[Contributor] elects to include this software in this distribution
 * under the [CDDL or GPL Version 2] license." If you do not indicate a
 * single choice of license, a recipient has the option to distribute
 * your version of this file under either the CDDL, the GPL Version 2 or
 * to extend the choice of license to its licensees as provided above.
 * However, if you add GPL Version 2 code and therefore, elected the GPL
 * Version 2 license, then the option applies only if the new code is
 * made subject to such option by the copyright holder.
 *
 * Contributor(s):
 *
 * Portions Copyrighted 2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 */

package org.netbeans.api.actions;

import java.io.IOException;
import org.netbeans.modules.openide.awt.SavableRegistry;
import org.netbeans.spi.actions.AbstractSavable;
import org.openide.util.Lookup;

/** Context interface that represents ability to persist its state to long term storage. To get best
 * interaction with the system, it is preferable to use {@link AbstractSavable}
 * to create instances of this interface rather than implementing it 
 * directly.
 *
 * @author Jaroslav Tulach <jtulach@netbeans.org>
 * @since 7.33
 */
public interface Savable {
    /** Global registry of all {@link Savable}s that are modified in the
     * application and subject to save by <em>Save All</em> action. See 
     * {@link AbstractSavable} for description how to register your own
     * implementation into the registry.
     */
    public static final Lookup REGISTRY = SavableRegistry.getRegistry();
    
    /** Invoke the save operation.
     * @throws IOException if the object could not be saved
     */
    public void save() throws IOException;

    /** Human descriptive, localized name of the savable. It is advised that
     * all implementations of Savable override the toString method to provide
     * human readable name.
     * 
     * @return human readable name representing the savable
     */
    @Override
    public String toString();
}
