001    // Copyright 2004, 2005 The Apache Software Foundation
002    //
003    // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
004    // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
005    // You may obtain a copy of the License at
006    //
007    //     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
008    //
009    // Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
010    // distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
011    // WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
012    // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
013    // limitations under the License.
014    
015    package org.apache.tapestry.contrib.table.components;
016    
017    import org.apache.tapestry.IComponent;
018    import org.apache.tapestry.contrib.table.model.IAdvancedTableColumnSource;
019    import org.apache.tapestry.contrib.table.model.ITableColumnModel;
020    
021    /**
022     * Service used to generate a {@link org.apache.tapestry.contrib.table.model.ITableColumnModel}from
023     * a string description.
024     * 
025     * @author Howard M. Lewis Ship
026     * @since 4.0
027     */
028    public interface TableColumnModelSource
029    {
030        /**
031         * Generate a table column model out of the description string provided. Entries in the
032         * description string are separated by commas. Each column entry is of the format name,
033         * name:expression, or name:displayName:expression. An entry prefixed with ! represents a
034         * non-sortable column. If the whole description string is prefixed with *, it represents
035         * columns to be included in a Form.
036         * 
037         * @param strDesc
038         *            the description of the column model to be generated
039         * @param objComponent
040         *            the component ordering the generation
041         * @param objColumnSettingsContainer
042         *            the component containing the column settings
043         * @return a table column model based on the provided parameters
044         */
045        public ITableColumnModel generateTableColumnModel(IAdvancedTableColumnSource objColumnSource,
046                    String strDesc, IComponent objComponent, IComponent objColumnSettingsContainer);
047    }