001    /*
002     *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
003     *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
004     *  distributed with this work for additional information
005     *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
006     *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
007     *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
008     *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
009     *  
010     *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
011     *  
012     *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
013     *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
014     *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
015     *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
016     *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
017     *  under the License. 
018     *  
019     */
020    package org.apache.directory.shared.ldap.filter;
021    
022    
023    import javax.naming.NamingException;
024    
025    import org.apache.directory.shared.ldap.entry.Entry;
026    
027    
028    /**
029     * A candidacy predicate which tests if an entry satisfies some condition before
030     * being returned by a search.
031     * 
032     * @author <a href="mailto:dev@directory.apache.org">Apache Directory Project</a>
033     * @version $Revision: 746607 $
034     */
035    public interface Assertion extends Cloneable
036    {
037        /**
038         * Checks to see if a candidate is valid by asserting an arbitrary predicate
039         * against the candidate. Where available entry will be provided
040         * however there is no guarantee. The entry's attributes are only provided
041         * if they were previously accessed. All assertions should handle cases
042         * where the entry argument is null.
043         * 
044         * @param entry the entry if available
045         * @return true if the candidate satisfies the predicate, false otherwise
046         * @throws NamingException if an error occurs while asserting the predicate
047         */
048        boolean assertCandidate( Entry entry ) throws NamingException;
049    }