001/**
002The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1 
003(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
004You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ 
005Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, 
006WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the 
007specific language governing rights and limitations under the License. 
008
009The Original Code is "EncodingRule.java".  Description: 
010"A validation rule that applies to encoded message strings.  " 
011
012The Initial Developer of the Original Code is University Health Network. Copyright (C) 
0132002.  All Rights Reserved. 
014
015Contributor(s): ______________________________________. 
016
017Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms of the 
018GNU General Public License (the "GPL"), in which case the provisions of the GPL are 
019applicable instead of those above.  If you wish to allow use of your version of this 
020file only under the terms of the GPL and not to allow others to use your version 
021of this file under the MPL, indicate your decision by deleting  the provisions above 
022and replace  them with the notice and other provisions required by the GPL License.  
023If you do not delete the provisions above, a recipient may use your version of 
024this file under either the MPL or the GPL. 
025*/
026
027package ca.uhn.hl7v2.validation;
028
029/**
030 * A validation rule that applies to encoded message strings.  Rules that 
031 * apply to message content are not included in this category (they are MessageRules
032 * and are evaluated against parsed Message object).  EncodingRules are intended 
033 * for criteria that are specific to the encoded form of a message, e.g. "no empty 
034 * tags in an XML message".  
035 * @author Bryan Tripp
036 */
037public interface EncodingRule extends Rule<String> {
038    
039    /**
040     * Tests the given encoded message text against the criteria 
041     * defined by this rule class.  
042     * @return a list of exceptions indicating points at which the given 
043     *      message failed to validate (empty if validation succeeds; may 
044     *      not be a complete list as testing may be aborted after failure).  
045     */
046    public ValidationException[] test(String msg);
047    
048}