samoa-api/src/main/java/org/apache/samoa/core/Processor.java

package org.apache.samoa.core;

/*
 * #%L
 * SAMOA
 * %%
 * Copyright (C) 2014 - 2015 Apache Software Foundation
 * %%
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (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.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 * 
 * 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.
 * #L%
 */

import java.io.Serializable;

import com.github.javacliparser.Configurable;

/**
 * The Interface Processor.
 */
public interface Processor extends Serializable, Configurable {

  /**
   * Entry point for the {@link Processor} code. This method is called once for every event received.
   * 
   * @param event
   *          the event to be processed.
   * @return true if successful, false otherwise.
   */
  boolean process(ContentEvent event);

  /**
   * Initializes the Processor. This method is called once after the topology is set up and before any call to the
   * {@link process} method.
   * 
   * @param id
   *          the identifier of the processor.
   */
  void onCreate(int id);

  /**
   * Creates a copy of a processor. This method is used to instantiate multiple instances of the same {@link Processsor}
   * .
   * 
   * @param processor
   *          the processor to be copied.
   * 
   * @return a new instance of the {@link Processor}.
   * */
  Processor newProcessor(Processor processor); // FIXME there should be no need
                                               // for the processor as a
                                               // parameter
  // TODO can we substitute this with Cloneable?
}