001/* Activator.java --
002   Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
003
004This file is part of GNU Classpath.
005
006GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
007it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
008the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
009any later version.
010
011GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
012WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
013MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
014General Public License for more details.
015
016You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
017along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
018Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
01902110-1301 USA.
020
021Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
022making a combined work based on this library.  Thus, the terms and
023conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
024combination.
025
026As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
027permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
028executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
029modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
030terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
031independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
032module.  An independent module is a module which is not derived from
033or based on this library.  If you modify this library, you may extend
034this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
035obligated to do so.  If you do not wish to do so, delete this
036exception statement from your version. */
037
038
039package java.rmi.activation;
040
041import java.rmi.MarshalledObject;
042import java.rmi.Remote;
043import java.rmi.RemoteException;
044
045/**
046 * Activates remote object, providing the live reference to the activable remote
047 * object. Usually there is only one activator per host.
048 *
049 * @see ActivationSystem
050 * @see ActivationMonitor
051 */
052public interface Activator
053  extends Remote
054{
055  /**
056   * Activate the object, associated with the given activation identifier. The
057   * activator looks for the {@link ActivationDesc}riptor for the passed
058   * identifier, determines the object activation group and initiates object
059   * recreation either via {@link ActivationInstantiator} or via
060   * {@link Class#newInstance()}.
061   *
062   * @param id the identifier of the object to activate.
063   * @param force if true, the activator always contacts the group to obtain the
064   *          reference. If false, it may return the cached value.
065   * @return the activated remote object (its stub).
066   * @throws UnknownObjectException if the object with this id is unknown
067   * @throws ActivationException if the activation has failed due other reason
068   * @throws RemoteException if the remote call has failed.
069   */
070  MarshalledObject<? extends Remote> activate (ActivationID id, boolean force)
071    throws ActivationException, UnknownObjectException, RemoteException;
072}