001    /*
002     *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
003     *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
004     *  distributed with this work for additional information
005     *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
006     *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
007     *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
008     *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
009     *  
010     *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
011     *  
012     *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
013     *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
014     *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
015     *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
016     *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
017     *  under the License. 
018     *  
019     */
020    package org.apache.directory.shared.ldap.entry;
021    
022    import java.io.Externalizable;
023    
024    /**
025     * An internal interface for a ModificationItem. The name has been
026     * chosen so that it does not conflict with @see ModificationItem
027     *
028     * @author <a href="mailto:dev@directory.apache.org">Apache Directory Project</a>
029     * @version $Rev$, $Date$
030     */
031    public interface Modification extends Cloneable, Externalizable
032    {
033        /**
034         *  @return the operation
035         */
036        ModificationOperation getOperation();
037    
038    
039        /**
040         * Store the modification operation
041         *
042         * @param operation The DirContext value to assign
043         */
044        void setOperation( int operation );
045    
046    
047        /**
048         * Store the modification operation
049         *
050         * @param operation The ModificationOperation value to assign
051         */
052        void setOperation( ModificationOperation operation );
053    
054    
055        /**
056         * @return the attribute containing the modifications
057         */
058        EntryAttribute getAttribute();
059    
060    
061        /**
062         * Set the attribute's modification
063         *
064         * @param attribute The modified attribute
065         */
066        void setAttribute( EntryAttribute attribute );
067        
068        
069        /**
070         * The clone operation
071         *
072         * @return a clone of the current modification
073         */
074        Modification clone();
075    }