/*
 * Copyright 2005-2011 the original author or authors.
 * 
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 * 
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 * 
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package org.wamblee.xmlrouter.config;

/**
 * The configuration provider must be imp0lemneted to provide a part of the
 * configuration. The XML Router calls the configuration provider repeatedly to
 * find out the current configuration.
 * 
 * How the XML router obtains an instance of the configuration provider depends
 * on how the \ XML router is deployed. In an OSGi type deployment, this could
 * be for instance through an extender pattern whereby the XML router discovers
 * configuration providers at runtime.
 * 
 * @author Erik Brakkee
 * 
 */
public interface ConfigurationProvider {

    /**
     * Gets the current configuration to use. An implementation may cache the
     * configuration objects an return it a second time or it may return a new
     * configuration object each time.
     * 
     * @return Configuration, may not be null.
     */
    Configuration getConfiguration();
}