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 * Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, University of
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package org.scijava.event;


import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.List;

import org.scijava.service.SciJavaService;

/**
 * Interface for the event handling service.
 * 
 * @author Curtis Rueden
 * @author Grant Harris
 */
public interface EventService extends SciJavaService {

	/**
	 * Publishes the given event immediately, reporting it to all subscribers.
	 * Does not return until all subscribers have handled the event.
	 * 
	 * Note that with {@link #publish}, in the case of multiple events published
	 * in a chain to multiple subscribers, the delivery order will resemble that
	 * of a stack. For example:
	 * 
	 * 
	 * {@link org.scijava.module.event.ModulesUpdatedEvent} is published with
	 * {@link #publish}.
	 * {@link org.scijava.menu.DefaultMenuService} receives the event and
	 * handles it, publishing {@link org.scijava.menu.event.MenusUpdatedEvent} in
	 * response.
	 * A third party that subscribes to both
	 * {@link org.scijava.module.event.ModulesUpdatedEvent} and
	 * {@link org.scijava.menu.event.MenusUpdatedEvent} will receive the latter
	 * before the former.
	 * 
	 * That said, the behavior of {@link #publish} depends on the thread from
	 * which it is called: if called from a thread identified as a dispatch thread
	 * by {@link org.scijava.thread.ThreadService#isDispatchThread()}, it will
	 * publish immediately; otherwise, it will be queued for publication on a
	 * dispatch thread, and block the calling thread until publication is
	 * complete. This means that a chain of events published with a mixture of
	 * {@link #publish} and {@link #publishLater} may result in event delivery in
	 * an unintuitive order.
	 */
	 void publish(E e);

	/**
	 * Queues the given event for publication, typically on a separate thread
	 * (called the "event dispatch thread"). This method returns immediately,
	 * before subscribers have fully received the event.
	 * 
	 * Note that with {@link #publishLater}, in the case of multiple events
	 * published in a chain to multiple subscribers, the delivery order will
	 * resemble that of a queue. For example:
	 * 
	 * 
	 * {@link org.scijava.module.event.ModulesUpdatedEvent} is published with
	 * {@link #publishLater}.
	 * {@link org.scijava.menu.DefaultMenuService} receives the event and
	 * handles it, publishing {@link org.scijava.menu.event.MenusUpdatedEvent} in
	 * response.
	 * A third party that subscribes to both
	 * {@link org.scijava.module.event.ModulesUpdatedEvent} and
	 * {@link org.scijava.menu.event.MenusUpdatedEvent} will receive the former
	 * first, since it was already queued by the time the latter was published.
	 * 
	 */
	 void publishLater(E e);

	/**
	 * Subscribes all of the given object's @{@link EventHandler} annotated
	 * methods.
	 * 
	 * This allows a single class to subscribe to multiple types of events by
	 * implementing multiple event handling methods and annotating each one with
	 * the {@link EventHandler} annotation.
	 * 
	 * 
	 * Note that it is not necessary to store a copy of the event
	 * subscribers (because the event service is expected to hold a weak mapping
	 * between the event handler object and the subscribers) unless the
	 * subscribers need to be unsubscribed explicitly.
	 * 
	 * 
	 * Most users will want to extend {@link org.scijava.AbstractContextual}, or
	 * call {@link org.scijava.Context#inject(Object)}, instead of subscribing to
	 * the event service explicitly.
	 * 
	 * 
	 * @param o the event handler object containing the {@link EventHandler}
	 *          annotated methods
	 * @return The list of newly created {@link EventSubscriber}s, weakly
	 *         subscribed to the event service.
	 * @see org.scijava.AbstractContextual
	 * @see org.scijava.Context#inject(Object)
	 */
	List> subscribe(Object o);

	/**
	 * Removes all the given subscribers; they will no longer be notified when
	 * events are published.
	 */
	void unsubscribe(Collection> subscribers);

	/**
	 * Gets a list of all subscribers to the given event class (and subclasses
	 * thereof).
	 */
	 List> getSubscribers(Class c);

}