1/**
2 * $RCSfile$
3 * $Revision$
4 * $Date$
5 *
6 * Copyright 2003-2007 Jive Software.
7 *
8 * All rights reserved. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
9 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
10 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
11 *
12 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
13 *
14 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
15 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
16 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
17 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
18 * limitations under the License.
19 */
20
21package org.jivesoftware.smack.filter;
22
23import org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.Packet;
24
25/**
26 * Defines a way to filter packets for particular attributes. Packet filters are
27 * used when constructing packet listeners or collectors -- the filter defines
28 * what packets match the criteria of the collector or listener for further
29 * packet processing.<p>
30 *
31 * Several pre-defined filters are defined. These filters can be logically combined
32 * for more complex packet filtering by using the
33 * {@link org.jivesoftware.smack.filter.AndFilter AndFilter} and
34 * {@link org.jivesoftware.smack.filter.OrFilter OrFilter} filters. It's also possible
35 * to define your own filters by implementing this interface. The code example below
36 * creates a trivial filter for packets with a specific ID.
37 *
38 * <pre>
39 * // Use an anonymous inner class to define a packet filter that returns
40 * // all packets that have a packet ID of "RS145".
41 * PacketFilter myFilter = new PacketFilter() {
42 *     public boolean accept(Packet packet) {
43 *         return "RS145".equals(packet.getPacketID());
44 *     }
45 * };
46 * // Create a new packet collector using the filter we created.
47 * PacketCollector myCollector = packetReader.createPacketCollector(myFilter);
48 * </pre>
49 *
50 * @see org.jivesoftware.smack.PacketCollector
51 * @see org.jivesoftware.smack.PacketListener
52 * @author Matt Tucker
53 */
54public interface PacketFilter {
55
56    /**
57     * Tests whether or not the specified packet should pass the filter.
58     *
59     * @param packet the packet to test.
60     * @return true if and only if <tt>packet</tt> passes the filter.
61     */
62    public boolean accept(Packet packet);
63}
64