/*
 * 
 * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 * 
 * The contents of this file are subject to the Sun Community Source
 * License v3.0/Jini Technology Specific Attachment v 1.0 (the
 * "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the
 * License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
 * http://wwws.sun.com/software/jini/licensing/SCSL3_JiniTSA1.html.
 * Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
 * basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
 * the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
 * under the License.
 * 
 * The Reference Code is Jini Technology Core Platform code, v2.0. The
 * Developer of the Reference Code is Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 * 
 * Contributor(s): Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 * 
 * The contents of this file comply with the Jini Technology Core
 * Platform Compatibility Kit, v2.0A.
 * 
 * Tester(s): Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 * 
 * Test Platform(s):
 * Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, Version 1.4.2_03 for Solaris(TM)SPARC/x86
 * Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, Version 1.4.2_03 for Linux (Intel x86)
 * Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition, Version 1.4.2_03 for Windows (Intel Platform)
 * 
 */

package com.sun.jini.start;

import java.rmi.RemoteException;

/**
 * Provides a means to obtain a client-side proxy from a 
 * "base" service object.
 * <p>
 * This interface is typically implemented by a service implementation
 * and/or it's remote activatable reference, if any, to allow the service
 * to return the object of its choice for a client-side reference. 
 * When a non-activatable service is created,  
 * {@link NonActivatableServiceDescriptor#create(net.jini.config.Configuration)
 * NonActivatableServiceDescriptor.create()}, 
 * returns the result from <code>&lt;impl&gt;.getServiceProxy()</code>, 
 * if supported, where <code>&lt;impl&gt;</code> is the service implementation
 * instance.
 * When an activatable service is created,    
 * {@link SharedActivatableServiceDescriptor#create(net.jini.config.Configuration)
 * SharedActivatableServiceDescriptor.create()}, 
 * returns the result of <code>&lt;act_ref&gt;.getServiceProxy()</code>,
 * if supported, where <code>&lt;act_ref&gt;</code> is the service reference
 * returned by the call to
 * {@link java.rmi.activation.ActivationID#activate(boolean) ActivationID.activate()}.
 *
 * @author Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 *
 * @since 2.0
 *
 * @see com.sun.jini.start.NonActivatableServiceDescriptor
 * @see com.sun.jini.start.SharedActivatableServiceDescriptor
 * @see java.rmi.activation.ActivationID
 *
 **/
public interface ServiceProxyAccessor {

    /**
     * Returns a proxy object for this object. This value should not be
     * <code>null</code>. 
     *
     * @return a proxy object reference
     **/
     public Object getServiceProxy() throws RemoteException;
}

