container/modules/groupcom/src/share/org/apache/catalina/tribes/ChannelReceiver.java

/*
 * Copyright 1999,2004-2005 The 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.
 */

package org.apache.catalina.tribes;


/**
 * ChannelReceiver Interface<br>
 * The <code>ChannelReceiver</code> interface is the data receiver component 
 * at the bottom layer, the IO layer (for layers see the javadoc for the {@link Channel} interface).
 * This class may optionally implement a thread pool for parallel processing of incoming messages.
 * @author Filip Hanik
 * @version $Revision: 379904 $, $Date: 2006-02-22 15:16:25 -0600 (Wed, 22 Feb 2006) $
 */
public interface ChannelReceiver extends Heartbeat {
    /**
     * Start listening for incoming messages on the host/port
     * @throws java.io.IOException
     */
    public void start() throws java.io.IOException;

    /**
     * Stop listening for messages
     */
    public void stop();

    /**
     * String representation of the IPv4 or IPv6 address that this host is listening
     * to.
     * @return the host that this receiver is listening to
     */
    public String getHost();
    
    
    /**
     * Returns the listening port
     * @return port
     */
    public int getPort();
    
    /**
     * Sets the message listener to receive notification of incoming
     * @param listener MessageListener
     * @see MessageListener
     */
    public void setMessageListener(MessageListener listener);
    
    /**
     * Returns the message listener that is associated with this receiver
     * @return MessageListener
     * @see MessageListener
     */
    public MessageListener getMessageListener();

}