01: /*
02: * Copyright 2004-2007 the original author or authors.
03: *
04: * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
05: * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
06: * You may obtain a copy of the License at
07: *
08: * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
09: *
10: * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11: * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12: * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13: * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14: * limitations under the License.
15: */
16: package org.springframework.webflow.execution;
17:
18: import org.springframework.webflow.definition.FlowDefinition;
19:
20: /**
21: * An abstract factory for creating flow exections. A flow execution represents
22: * a runtime, top-level instance of a flow definition.
23: * <p>
24: * This factory provides encapsulation of the flow execution implementation
25: * type, as well as its construction and assembly process.
26: * <p>
27: * Flow execution factories are responsible for registering
28: * {@link FlowExecutionListener listeners} with the constructed flow execution.
29: *
30: * @see FlowExecution
31: * @see FlowDefinition
32: * @see FlowExecutionListener
33: *
34: * @author Keith Donald
35: */
36: public interface FlowExecutionFactory {
37:
38: /**
39: * Create a new flow execution product for the given flow definition.
40: * @param flowDefinition the flow definition
41: * @return the new flow execution, fully initialized and awaiting to be
42: * started
43: * @see FlowExecution#start(org.springframework.webflow.core.collection.MutableAttributeMap, org.springframework.webflow.context.ExternalContext)
44: */
45: public FlowExecution createFlowExecution(
46: FlowDefinition flowDefinition);
47: }
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