/*

 * Copyright (c) 2004, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA

 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any

 * questions.

 */

package sun.jvmstat.monitor;

/**

 * Interface provided by Instrumentation Monitoring Objects.

 *

 * @author Brian Doherty

 * @since 1.5

 */

public interface Monitor  {

    /**

     * Returns the name of this instrumentation object.

     *

     * @return String - the name assigned to this instrumentation monitoring

     *                  object

     */

    String getName();

    /**

     * Returns the base name of this instrumentation object.

     * The base name is the component of the name following the last

     * "." character in the name.

     *

     * @return String - the base name of the name assigned to this

     *                  instrumentation monitoring object.

     */

    String getBaseName();

    /**

     * Returns the Units for this instrumentation monitoring object.

     *

     * @return Units - the units of measure attribute

     */

    Units getUnits();

    /**

     * Returns the Variability for this instrumentation object.

     *

     *@return Variability - the variability attribute

     */

    Variability getVariability();

    /**

     * Test if the instrumentation object is a vector type.

     *

     * @return boolean - true if this instrumentation object is a vector type,

     *                   false otherwise.

     */

    boolean isVector();

    /**

     * Return the length of the vector.

     * @return int - the length of the vector or zero if this instrumentation

     *               object is a scalar type.

     */

    int getVectorLength();

    /**

     * Test if the instrumentation object is supported.

     */

    boolean isSupported();

    /**

     * Return an Object that encapsulates this instrumentation object's

     * current data value.

     */

    Object getValue();

}