Copyright (c) 2004, 2015 IBM Corporation and others.
This program and the accompanying materials
are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
Contributors:
    IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2004, 2015 IBM Corporation and others.
 *
 * This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
 *
 * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
 *******************************************************************************/
package org.eclipse.core.runtime.preferences;

import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IPath;

Clients implement this interface to provide context to a particular scope. Instances of implementations of this interface are passed to the IPreferencesService for use in preference searching. 

Clients may implement this interface.

See Also:
IPreferencesService
Since:
3.0/**
 * Clients implement this interface to provide context to a
 * particular scope. Instances of implementations of this interface are
 * passed to the {@link IPreferencesService} for use in
 * preference searching.
 * <p>
 * Clients may implement this interface.
 * </p>
 *
 * @see IPreferencesService
 * @since 3.0
 */
public interface IScopeContext {

	
Return the name of the scope that this context is associated with.
Must not be null.
Returns:
the name of the scope/**
	 * Return the name of the scope that this context is associated with.
	 * Must not be <code>null</code>.
	 *
	 * @return the name of the scope
	 */
	public String getName();

	
Return the preferences node that contains the preferences for the
given qualifier or null if the node cannot be determined.
The given qualifier must not be null but may be a path
to a sub-node within the scope.

An example of a qualifier in Eclipse 2.1 would be the plug-in identifier that
the preference is associated with (e.g. the "org.eclipse.core.resources"
plug-in defines the "description.autobuild" preference).

This method can be used to determine the appropriate preferences node
to aid in setting key/value pairs. For instance:
new InstanceScope().getNode("org.eclipse.core.resources");
returns the preference node in the instance scope where the preferences
for "org.eclipse.core.resources" are stored.

Params:
qualifier – a qualifier for the preference name
See Also:
IPreferencesService
Returns:
the node containing the plug-in preferences or null/**
	 * Return the preferences node that contains the preferences for the
	 * given qualifier or <code>null</code> if the node cannot be determined.
	 * The given qualifier must not be <code>null</code> but may be a path
	 * to a sub-node within the scope.
	 * <p>
	 * An example of a qualifier in Eclipse 2.1 would be the plug-in identifier that
	 * the preference is associated with (e.g. the "org.eclipse.core.resources"
	 * plug-in defines the "description.autobuild" preference).
	 * </p><p>
	 * This method can be used to determine the appropriate preferences node
	 * to aid in setting key/value pairs. For instance:
	 * <code>new InstanceScope().getNode("org.eclipse.core.resources");</code>
	 * returns the preference node in the instance scope where the preferences
	 * for "org.eclipse.core.resources" are stored.
	 * </p>
	 * @param qualifier a qualifier for the preference name
	 * @return the node containing the plug-in preferences or <code>null</code>
	 * @see IPreferencesService
	 */
	public IEclipsePreferences getNode(String qualifier);

	
Return a path to a location in the file-system where clients are able
to write files that will have the same sharing/scope properties as
preferences defined in this scope.

Implementors may return null if the location is not known,
is unavailable, or is not applicable to this scope.

Returns:
a writable location in the file system or null/**
	 * Return a path to a location in the file-system where clients are able
	 * to write files that will have the same sharing/scope properties as
	 * preferences defined in this scope.
	 * <p>
	 * Implementors may return <code>null</code> if the location is not known,
	 * is unavailable, or is not applicable to this scope.
	 * </p>
	 * @return a writable location in the file system or <code>null</code>
	 */
	public IPath getLocation();
}