/* Activator.java --
   Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004  Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of GNU Classpath.

GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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any later version.
 
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General Public License for more details.

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02110-1301 USA.

Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
making a combined work based on this library.  Thus, the terms and
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As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
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package java.rmi.activation;

import java.rmi.MarshalledObject;
import java.rmi.Remote;
import java.rmi.RemoteException;

/**
 * Activates remote object, providing the live reference to the activable remote
 * object. Usually there is only one activator per host.
 *
 * @see ActivationSystem
 * @see ActivationMonitor
 */
public interface Activator
  extends Remote
{
  /**
   * Activate the object, associated with the given activation identifier. The
   * activator looks for the {@link ActivationDesc}riptor for the passed
   * identifier, determines the object activation group and initiates object
   * recreation either via {@link ActivationInstantiator} or via
   * {@link Class#newInstance()}.
   * 
   * @param id the identifier of the object to activate.
   * @param force if true, the activator always contacts the group to obtain the
   *          reference. If false, it may return the cached value.
   * @return the activated remote object (its stub).
   * @throws UnknownObjectException if the object with this id is unknown
   * @throws ActivationException if the activation has failed due other reason
   * @throws RemoteException if the remote call has failed.
   */
  MarshalledObject activate (ActivationID id, boolean force)
    throws ActivationException, UnknownObjectException, RemoteException;
}
