trunk/workflowmodel-api/src/main/java/net/sf/taverna/t2/workflowmodel/serialization/xml/XMLSerializer.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (C) 2007 The University of Manchester   
 * 
 *  Modifications to the initial code base are copyright of their
 *  respective authors, or their employers as appropriate.
 * 
 *  This program 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 program 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 program; if not, write to the Free Software
 *  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
 ******************************************************************************/
package net.sf.taverna.t2.workflowmodel.serialization.xml;

import net.sf.taverna.t2.workflowmodel.Dataflow;
import net.sf.taverna.t2.workflowmodel.serialization.SerializationException;

import org.jdom.Element;


/**
 * The main interface that defines the entry point for serialising a Dataflow instance into a JDOM Element
 * <br>
 * If the dataflow internally contains DataflowActivities (i.e. nested dataflows) then the resulting XML will also include
 * a definition of these.
 * 
 * @author Stuart Owen
 * @author Alan R Williams
 *
 */
public interface XMLSerializer {
	
	/**
	 * Serialises the dataflow into a JDOM element
	 * @param dataflow
	 * @return
	 * @throws SerializationException if there is a problem serializing the dataflow
	 */
	Element serializeDataflow(Dataflow dataflow) throws SerializationException;
	
	/**
	 * Specify what program produced the serialization
	 * 
	 * @param producedBy
	 */
	void setProducedBy(String producedBy);
	
	String getProducedBy();

}