/*
 * Copyright 2003,2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
 * 
 * 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.
 * 
 * ====================================================================
 *
 * This source code implements specifications defined by the Java
 * Community Process. In order to remain compliant with the specification
 * DO NOT add / change / or delete method signatures!
 */

package javax.portlet;


/**
 * The <CODE>PreferencesValidator</CODE> allows to validate the set of
 * preferences of the associated portlet just before they are
 * stored in the persistent store.
 * <p>
 * The portlet container invokes the <code>validate</code> method as 
 * part of the invocation of the <code>store</code> method of the
 * <code>PortletPreferences</code>.
 */
public interface PreferencesValidator
{


  /**
   * If the preferences values are successfully validated the call to this method
   * must finish gracefully. Otherwise it must throw a <code>ValidatorException</code>.
   *
   * @param  preferences   preferences to validate
   *
   * @throws  ValidatorException  if the given preferences contains invalid
   *                              settings
   *
   */

  public void validate(PortletPreferences preferences)
    throws ValidatorException;  
}
