/* IXMLParser.java                                                 NanoXML/Java
 *
 * $Revision: 1.3 $
 * $Date: 2002/01/04 21:03:28 $
 * $Name: RELEASE_2_2_1 $
 *
 * This file is part of NanoXML 2 for Java.
 * Copyright (C) 2000-2002 Marc De Scheemaecker, All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty.
 * In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the
 * use of this software.
 *
 * Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
 * including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
 * freely, subject to the following restrictions:
 *
 *  1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
 *     claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in
 *     a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
 *     appreciated but is not required.
 *
 *  2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
 *     misrepresented as being the original software.
 *
 *  3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
 */

package net.n3.nanoxml;


import java.io.IOException;


/**
 * IXMLParser is the core parser of NanoXML.
 *
 * @author Marc De Scheemaecker
 * @version $Name: RELEASE_2_2_1 $, $Revision: 1.3 $
 */
public interface IXMLParser
{

   /**
    * Sets the reader from which the parser retrieves its data.
    *
    * @param reader the reader.
    */
   public void setReader(IXMLReader reader);


   /**
    * Returns the reader from which the parser retrieves its data.
    *
    * @return the reader.
    */
   public IXMLReader getReader();


   /**
    * Sets the builder which creates the logical structure of the XML data.
    *
    * @param builder the builder.
    */
   public void setBuilder(IXMLBuilder builder);


   /**
    * Returns the builder which creates the logical structure of the XML data.
    *
    * @return the builder.
    */
   public IXMLBuilder getBuilder();


   /**
    * Sets the validator that validates the XML data.
    *
    * @param validator the validator.
    */
   public void setValidator(IXMLValidator validator);


   /**
    * Returns the validator that validates the XML data.
    *
    * @return the validator.
    */
   public IXMLValidator getValidator();


   /**
    * Sets the entity resolver.
    *
    * @param resolver the non-null resolver.
    */
   public void setResolver(IXMLEntityResolver resolver);


   /**
    * Returns the entity resolver.
    *
    * @return the non-null resolver.
    */
   public IXMLEntityResolver getResolver();


   /**
    * Parses the data and lets the builder create the logical data structure.
    * The method returns the result of <I>getResult</I> of the builder. if an
    * error occurred while reading or parsing the data, the method may throw
    * an XMLException.
    *
    * @see net.n3.nanoxml.IXMLBuilder#getResult
    *
    * @return the logical structure built by the builder.
    *
    * @throws net.n3.nanoxml.XMLException
    *		if an error occurred reading or parsing the data
    */
   public Object parse()
      throws XMLException;

}
