/*
 * Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 */

package javax.jms;

/** A client uses a <CODE>MessageConsumer</CODE> object to receive messages 
  * from a destination.  A <CODE>MessageConsumer</CODE> object is created by 
  * passing a <CODE>Destination</CODE> object to a message-consumer creation
  * method supplied by a session.
  *
  * <P><CODE>MessageConsumer</CODE> is the parent interface for all message 
  * consumers.
  *
  * <P>A message consumer can be created with a message selector. A message
  * selector allows 
  * the client to restrict the messages delivered to the message consumer to 
  * those that match the selector.
  *
  * <P>A client may either synchronously receive a message consumer's messages 
  * or have the consumer asynchronously deliver them as they arrive.
  *
  * <P>For synchronous receipt, a client can request the next message from a 
  * message consumer using one of its <CODE>receive</CODE> methods. There are 
  * several variations of <CODE>receive</CODE> that allow a 
  * client to poll or wait for the next message.
  *
  * <P>For asynchronous delivery, a client can register a 
  * <CODE>MessageListener</CODE> object with a message consumer. 
  * As messages arrive at the message consumer, it delivers them by calling the 
  * <CODE>MessageListener</CODE>'s <CODE>onMessage</CODE> method.
  *
  * <P>It is a client programming error for a <CODE>MessageListener</CODE> to 
  * throw an exception.
  *
  * @version     1.0 - 13 March 1998
  * @author      Mark Hapner
  * @author      Rich Burridge
  *
  * @see         javax.jms.QueueReceiver
  * @see         javax.jms.TopicSubscriber
  * @see         javax.jms.Session
  */

public interface MessageConsumer {

    /** Gets this message consumer's message selector expression.
      *  
      * @return this message consumer's message selector, or null if no
      *         message selector exists for the message consumer (that is, if 
      *         the message selector was not set or was set to null or the 
      *         empty string)
      *  
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to get the message
      *                         selector due to some internal error.
      */ 

    String
    getMessageSelector() throws JMSException;


    /** Gets the message consumer's <CODE>MessageListener</CODE>.
      *  
      * @return the listener for the message consumer, or null if no listener
      * is set
      *  
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to get the message
      *                         listener due to some internal error.
      * @see javax.jms.MessageConsumer#setMessageListener
      */ 

    MessageListener
    getMessageListener() throws JMSException;


    /** Sets the message consumer's <CODE>MessageListener</CODE>.
      * 
      * <P>Setting the message listener to null is the equivalent of 
      * unsetting the message listener for the message consumer.
      *
      * <P>The effect of calling <CODE>MessageConsumer.setMessageListener</CODE>
      * while messages are being consumed by an existing listener
      * or the consumer is being used to consume messages synchronously
      * is undefined.
      *  
      * @param listener the listener to which the messages are to be 
      *                 delivered
      *  
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to set the message
      *                         listener due to some internal error.
      * @see javax.jms.MessageConsumer#getMessageListener
      */ 

    void
    setMessageListener(MessageListener listener) throws JMSException;


    /** Receives the next message produced for this message consumer.
      *  
      * <P>This call blocks indefinitely until a message is produced
      * or until this message consumer is closed.
      *
      * <P>If this <CODE>receive</CODE> is done within a transaction, the 
      * consumer retains the message until the transaction commits.
      *  
      * @return the next message produced for this message consumer, or 
      * null if this message consumer is concurrently closed
      *  
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to receive the next
      *                         message due to some internal error.
      * 
      */ 
 
    Message
    receive() throws JMSException;


    /** Receives the next message that arrives within the specified
      * timeout interval.
      *  
      * <P>This call blocks until a message arrives, the
      * timeout expires, or this message consumer is closed.
      * A <CODE>timeout</CODE> of zero never expires, and the call blocks 
      * indefinitely.
      *
      * @param timeout the timeout value (in milliseconds)
      *
      * @return the next message produced for this message consumer, or 
      * null if the timeout expires or this message consumer is concurrently 
      * closed
      *
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to receive the next
      *                         message due to some internal error.
      */ 

    Message
    receive(long timeout) throws JMSException;


    /** Receives the next message if one is immediately available.
      *
      * @return the next message produced for this message consumer, or 
      * null if one is not available
      *  
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to receive the next
      *                         message due to some internal error.
      */ 

    Message
    receiveNoWait() throws JMSException;


    /** Closes the message consumer.
      *
      * <P>Since a provider may allocate some resources on behalf of a
      * <CODE>MessageConsumer</CODE> outside the Java virtual machine, clients 
      * should close them when they
      * are not needed. Relying on garbage collection to eventually reclaim
      * these resources may not be timely enough.
      *
      * <P>This call blocks until a <CODE>receive</CODE> or message listener in 
      * progress has completed. A blocked message consumer <CODE>receive</CODE> 
      * call 
      * returns null when this message consumer is closed.
      *  
      * @exception JMSException if the JMS provider fails to close the consumer
      *                         due to some internal error.
      */ 

    void
    close() throws JMSException;
}