001    /*
002     * Copyright (C) 2007 The Guava Authors
003     *
004     * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005     * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006     * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007     *
008     * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009     *
010     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011     * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012     * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013     * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014     * limitations under the License.
015     */
016    
017    package com.google.common.io;
018    
019    import java.io.IOException;
020    
021    /**
022     * A factory for readable streams of bytes or characters.
023     *
024     * @author Chris Nokleberg
025     * @since 1.0
026     */
027    public interface InputSupplier<T> {
028    
029      /**
030       * Returns an object that encapsulates a readable resource.
031       * <p>
032       * Like {@link Iterable#iterator}, this method may be called repeatedly to
033       * get independent channels to the same underlying resource.
034       * <p>
035       * Where the channel maintains a position within the resource, moving that
036       * cursor within one channel should not affect the starting position of
037       * channels returned by other calls.
038       */
039      T getInput() throws IOException;
040    }