+/*
+ * 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();
+}