1 /*
2 * Copyright (c) 2004-2007 QOS.ch
3 * All rights reserved.
4 *
5 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
6 * a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
7 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
8 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
9 * distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
10 * permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
11 * the following conditions:
12 *
13 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
14 * included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
15 *
16 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
17 * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
18 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
19 * NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
20 * LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
21 * OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
22 * WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
23 */
24
25 package org.slf4j;
26
27
28 /**
29 * Implementaitons of this interface are used to manufacture {@link Marker}
30 * instances.
31 *
32 * <p>See the section <a href="http://slf4j.org/faq.html#3">Implementing
33 * the SLF4J API</a> in the FAQ for details on how to make your logging
34 * system conform to SLF4J.
35 *
36 * @author Ceki Gülcü
37 */
38 public interface IMarkerFactory {
39
40 /**
41 * Manufacture a {@link Marker} instance by name. If the instance has been
42 * created earlier, return the previously created instance.
43 *
44 * <p>Null name values are not allowed.
45 *
46 * @param name the name of the marker to be created, null value is
47 * not allowed.
48 *
49 * @return a Marker instance
50 */
51 Marker getMarker(String name);
52
53 /**
54 * Checks if the marker with the name already exists. If name is null, then false
55 * is returned.
56 *
57 * @return true id the marker exists, false otherwise.
58 */
59 boolean exists(String name);
60
61 /**
62 * Detach an existing marker.
63 * <p>
64 * Note that after a marker is detached, there might still be "dangling" references
65 * to the detached marker.
66 *
67 *
68 * @param name The name of the marker to detach
69 * @return whether the marker could be detached or not
70 */
71 boolean detachMarker(String name);
72
73
74 /**
75 * Create a marker which is detached (even at birth) from this IMarkerFactory.
76 *
77 * @return a dangling marker
78 * @since 1.5.1
79 */
80 Marker getDetachedMarker(String name);
81 }