001    /*
002     * Copyright 2009 Red Hat, Inc.
003     * Red Hat licenses this file to you under the Apache License, version
004     * 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
005     * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
006     *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
007     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
008     * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
009     * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
010     * implied.  See the License for the specific language governing
011     * permissions and limitations under the License.
012     */
013    package org.hornetq.spi.core.remoting;
014    
015    /**
016     * A Connector is used by the client for creating and controlling a connection.
017     *
018     * @author <a href="mailto:tim.fox@jboss.com">Tim Fox</a>
019     */
020    public interface Connector
021    {
022       /**
023        * starts the connector
024        */
025       void start();
026    
027       /**
028        * closes the connector
029        */
030       void close();
031    
032       /**
033        * returns true if the connector is started, oterwise false.
034        *
035        * @return true if the connector is started
036        */
037       boolean isStarted();
038    
039       /**
040        * Create and return a connection from this connector.
041        * <p/>
042        * This method must NOT throw an exception if it fails to create the connection
043        * (e.g. network is not available), in this case it MUST return null
044        *
045        * @return The connection, or null if unable to create a connection (e.g. network is unavailable)
046        */
047       Connection createConnection();
048    }