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/*
 * This file is part of the OWL API.
 *  
 * The contents of this file are subject to the LGPL License, Version 3.0.
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2011, The University of Manchester
 *  
 * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *  
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *  
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
 *
 *  
 * Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0
 * in which case, the provisions of the Apache License Version 2.0 are applicable instead of those above.
 *
 * Copyright 2011, The University of Manchester
 *  
 * 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.semanticweb.owlapi.change;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.semanticweb.owlapi.model.OWLOntology;
import org.semanticweb.owlapi.model.OWLOntologyChange;

/**
 * Author: Matthew Horridge

 * Stanford University

 * Bio-Medical Informatics Research Group

 * Date: 27/04/2012
 * 
 *     Represents an abstraction of the essential non-ontology data required by a particular kind of
 *     {@link OWLOntologyChange}.  There is a concrete subclass of this class for each concrete class of
 *     {@link OWLOntologyChange}.
 * 
 * 
 *     Instances of this class are immutable
 * 
 * @see org.semanticweb.owlapi.model.OWLOntologyChange#getChangeData()
 * @since 3.5
 */
public abstract class OWLOntologyChangeData implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 30406L;

    /**
     * Default constructor for serialization purposes.
     */
    protected OWLOntologyChangeData() {
    }

    /**
     * Accepts a visit from an {@link OWLOntologyChangeDataVisitor}
     * @param visitor The visitor
     * @param  The return type for visitor's visit methods.
     * @param  The exception type for exceptions thrown by the visitor's visit methods.
     * @return The object returned by the visitor's visit methods.
     * @throws E The exception thrown by the visitor's visit methods.
     */
    public abstract  R accept(OWLOntologyChangeDataVisitor visitor) throws E;

    /**
     * Creates an {@link OWLOntologyChange} object that pertains to the specified {@code ontology}, which when applied
     * to the specified ontology enacts the change described by this info object.
     * @param ontology The {@link OWLOntology} that the change should apply to.  Not {@code null}.
     * @return An {@link OWLOntologyChange} object that applies to {@code ontology} and changes {@code ontology} is
     * a way that is consistent with this the information held in this {@link OWLOntologyChangeData} object.
     * @throws NullPointerException if {@code ontology} is {@code null}.
     */
    public abstract OWLOntologyChange createOntologyChange(OWLOntology ontology);

}