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1   /***
2    *
3    * Copyright 2004 Hiram Chirino
4    *
5    *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
6    *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
7    *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
8    *
9    *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
10   *
11   *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
12   *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
13   *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
14   *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
15   *  limitations under the License.
16   */
17  
18  package org.activeio;
19  
20  import java.io.IOException;
21  
22  
23  /***
24   * RequestChannel are used to model the request/reponse exchange that is used
25   * by higher level protcols such as HTTP and RMI. 
26   * 
27   * @version $Revision$
28   */
29  public interface RequestChannel extends Channel {
30  	
31  	/***
32  	 * Used to send a packet of information going 'down' the channel and wait for
33  	 * it's reponse 'up' packet.
34  	 * 
35  	 * This method blocks until the response packet is received or the operation 
36  	 * experiences a timeout.
37  	 * 
38  	 * @param request
39  	 * @param timeout
40  	 * @return the respnse packet or null if the timeout occured.
41  	 * @throws IOException
42  	 */
43  	Packet request(Packet request, long timeout) throws IOException;
44  
45  	/***
46  	 * Registers the {@see RequestListener} that the protcol will use to deliver request packets
47  	 * comming 'up' the channel.
48  	 *  
49  	 * @param packetListener
50  	 * @throws IOException
51  	 */
52      void setRequestListener(RequestListener requestListener) throws IOException;
53      
54  	/***
55  	 * @return the registered RequestListener
56  	 */
57      RequestListener getRequestListener();
58  	
59  }