Doc.java

/*
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 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
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 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
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 * This code 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 General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
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package javax.print;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.Reader;

import javax.print.attribute.DocAttributeSet;

/**
 * Interface {@code Doc} specifies the interface for an object that supplies one
 * piece of print data for a Print Job. "Doc" is a short, easy-to-pronounce term
 * that means "a piece of print data." The client passes to the Print Job an
 * object that implements interface {@code Doc}, and the Print Job calls methods
 * on that object to obtain the print data. The {@code Doc} interface lets a
 * Print Job:
 * <ul>
 *   <li>Determine the format, or "doc flavor" (class
 *   {@link DocFlavor DocFlavor}), in which the print data is available. A doc
 *   flavor designates the print data format (a MIME type) and the
 *   representation class of the object from which the print data comes.
 *   <li>Obtain the print data representation object, which is an instance of
 *   the doc flavor's representation class. The Print Job can then obtain the
 *   actual print data from the representation object.
 *   <li>Obtain the printing attributes that specify additional characteristics
 *   of the doc or that specify processing instructions to be applied to the
 *   doc. Printing attributes are defined in package
 *   {@link javax.print.attribute}. The doc returns its printing attributes
 *   stored in an {@link DocAttributeSet javax.print.attribute.DocAttributeSet}.
 * </ul>
 * Each method in an implementation of interface {@code Doc} is permitted always
 * to return the same object each time the method is called. This has
 * implications for a Print Job or other caller of a doc object whose print data
 * representation object "consumes" the print data as the caller obtains the
 * print data, such as a print data representation object which is a stream.
 * Once the Print Job has called {@link #getPrintData() getPrintData()} and
 * obtained the stream, any further calls to {@link #getPrintData()
 * getPrintData()} will return the same stream object upon which reading may
 * already be in progress, <i>not</i> a new stream object that will re-read the
 * print data from the beginning. Specifying a doc object to behave this way
 * simplifies the implementation of doc objects, and is justified on the grounds
 * that a particular doc is intended to convey print data only to one Print Job,
 * not to several different Print Jobs. (To convey the same print data to
 * several different Print Jobs, you have to create several different doc
 * objects on top of the same print data source.)
 * <p>
 * Interface {@code Doc} affords considerable implementation flexibility. The
 * print data might already be in existence when the doc object is constructed.
 * In this case the objects returned by the doc's methods can be supplied to the
 * doc's constructor, be stored in the doc ahead of time, and simply be returned
 * when called for. Alternatively, the print data might not exist yet when the
 * doc object is constructed. In this case the doc object might provide a "lazy"
 * implementation that generates the print data representation object (and/or
 * the print data) only when the Print Job calls for it (when the Print Job
 * calls the {@link #getPrintData() getPrintData()} method).
 * <p>
 * There is no restriction on the number of client threads that may be
 * simultaneously accessing the same doc. Therefore, all implementations of
 * interface {@code Doc} must be designed to be multiple thread safe.
 * <p>
 * However there can only be one consumer of the print data obtained from a
 * {@code Doc}.
 * <p>
 * If print data is obtained from the client as a stream, by calling
 * {@code Doc}'s {@code getReaderForText()} or {@code getStreamForBytes()}
 * methods, or because the print data source is already an {@code InputStream}
 * or {@code Reader}, then the print service should always close these streams
 * for the client on all job completion conditions. With the following caveat.
 * If the print data is itself a stream, the service will always close it. If
 * the print data is otherwise something that can be requested as a stream, the
 * service will only close the stream if it has obtained the stream before
 * terminating. That is, just because a print service might request data as a
 * stream does not mean that it will, with the implications that {@code Doc}
 * implementors which rely on the service to close them should create such
 * streams only in response to a request from the service.
 */
public interface Doc {

    /**
     * Determines the doc flavor in which this doc object will supply its piece
     * of print data.
     *
     * @return doc flavor
     */
    public DocFlavor getDocFlavor();

    /**
     * Obtains the print data representation object that contains this doc
     * object's piece of print data in the format corresponding to the supported
     * doc flavor. The {@code getPrintData()} method returns an instance of the
     * representation class whose name is given by{@link #getDocFlavor()
     * getDocFlavor()}.{@link DocFlavor#getRepresentationClassName()
     * getRepresentationClassName()}, and the return value can be cast from
     * class {@code Object} to that representation class.
     *
     * @return print data representation object
     * @throws IOException if the representation class is a stream and there was
     *         an I/O error while constructing the stream
     */
    public Object getPrintData() throws IOException;

    /**
     * Obtains the set of printing attributes for this doc object. If the
     * returned attribute set includes an instance of a particular attribute
     * <i>X,</i> the printer must use that attribute value for this doc,
     * overriding any value of attribute <i>X</i> in the job's attribute set. If
     * the returned attribute set does not include an instance of a particular
     * attribute <i>X</i> or if {@code null} is returned, the printer must
     * consult the job's attribute set to obtain the value for attribute
     * <i>X,</i> and if not found there, the printer must use an
     * implementation-dependent default value. The returned attribute set is
     * unmodifiable.
     *
     * @return unmodifiable set of printing attributes for this doc, or
     *         {@code null} to obtain all attribute values from the job's
     *         attribute set
     */
    public DocAttributeSet getAttributes();

    /**
     * Obtains a reader for extracting character print data from this doc. The
     * {@code Doc} implementation is required to support this method if the
     * {@code DocFlavor} has one of the following print data representation
     * classes, and return {@code null} otherwise:
     * <ul>
     *   <li>char[]
     *   <li>java.lang.String
     *   <li>java.io.Reader
     * </ul>
     * The doc's print data representation object is used to construct and
     * return a {@code Reader} for reading the print data as a stream of
     * characters from the print data representation object. However, if the
     * print data representation object is itself a {@code Reader}, then the
     * print data representation object is simply returned.
     *
     * @return reader for reading the print data characters from this doc. If a
     *         reader cannot be provided because this doc does not meet the
     *         criteria stated above, {@code null} is returned.
     * @throws IOException if there was an I/O error while creating the reader
     */
    public Reader getReaderForText() throws IOException;

    /**
     * Obtains an input stream for extracting byte print data from this doc. The
     * {@code Doc} implementation is required to support this method if the
     * {@code DocFlavor} has one of the following print data representation
     * classes, and return {@code null} otherwise:
     * <ul>
     *   <li>byte[]
     *   <li>java.io.InputStream
     * </ul>
     * This doc's print data representation object is obtained, then an input
     * stream for reading the print data from the print data representation
     * object as a stream of bytes is created and returned. However, if the
     * print data representation object is itself an input stream, then the
     * print data representation object is simply returned.
     *
     * @return input stream for reading the print data bytes from this doc. If
     *         an input stream cannot be provided because this doc does not meet
     *         the criteria stated above, {@code null} is returned.
     * @throws IOException if there was an I/O error while creating the input
     *         stream
     */
    public InputStream getStreamForBytes() throws IOException;
}