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The interfaces which define the Cyc Core API.

There is a newer version: 1.0.0-rc7.0

package com.cyc.query;

/*
 * #%L
 * File: QueryAnswerExplanationGenerator.java
 * Project: Core API Object Specification
 * %%
 * Copyright (C) 2013 - 2017 Cycorp, Inc
 * %%
 * 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.
 * #L%
 */


import com.cyc.session.exception.OpenCycUnsupportedFeatureException;

/**
 * An interface for representing and generating {@link QueryAnswerExplanation}s for a specific 
 * answer to a query.
 *
 * @author baxter
 * @param  type of QueryAnswerExplanation to be generated
 */
public interface QueryAnswerExplanationGenerator {

  /**
   * Return the explanation, generating one if necessary via a call to {@link #generate()}.
   *
   * @return  a QueryAnswerExplanation
   * @throws  OpenCycUnsupportedFeatureException when run against an OpenCyc server
   */
  T getExplanation() throws OpenCycUnsupportedFeatureException;

  /**
   * Flesh out this explanation, setting its root node and tree structure underneath the root.
   * 
   * @throws  OpenCycUnsupportedFeatureException when run against an OpenCyc server
   */
  void generate() throws OpenCycUnsupportedFeatureException;

  /**
   * Returns the inference answer justified by this object
   *
   * @return  the inference answer
   */
  QueryAnswer getAnswer();

}