/*
 * 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;

import org.wamblee.xmlrouter.common.Id;

/**
 * Classes implementing this interface must provide a unique id to identify
 * their contents and behavior. If the content or behavior of an object changes,
 * then a different id should be returned. Conversely, it is required for the id
 * to keep as constant as possible. Also, a given object should return the same
 * id throughout its lifecycle (from the moment it's {@link #getId()} method is
 * called until the moment it can no longer be referenced.
 * 
 * @author Erik Brakkee
 * 
 */
public interface Identifiable<T> {

    /**
     * Returns the unique id for the object.
     * 
     * @return Unique id.
     */
    Id<T> getId();
}