/*
 * The Apache Software License, Version 1.1
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 *
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 * reserved.
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 *       "This product includes software developed by the
 *        Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/)."
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 * ====================================================================
 *
 * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
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 */
package javax.xml.soap;

import java.util.Iterator;

/**
 * <P>A representation of the SOAP header element. A SOAP header
 *   element consists of XML data that affects the way the
 *   application-specific content is processed by the message
 *   provider. For example, transaction semantics, authentication
 *   information, and so on, can be specified as the content of a
 *   <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object.</P>
 *
 *   <P>A <CODE>SOAPEnvelope</CODE> object contains an empty <CODE>
 *   SOAPHeader</CODE> object by default. If the <CODE>
 *   SOAPHeader</CODE> object, which is optional, is not needed, it
 *   can be retrieved and deleted with the following line of code.
 *   The variable <I>se</I> is a <CODE>SOAPEnvelope</CODE>
 *   object.</P>
 * <PRE>
 *     se.getHeader().detachNode();
 * </PRE>
 *   A <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object is created with the <CODE>
 *   SOAPEnvelope</CODE> method <CODE>addHeader</CODE>. This method,
 *   which creates a new header and adds it to the envelope, may be
 *   called only after the existing header has been removed.
 * <PRE>
 *     se.getHeader().detachNode();
 *     SOAPHeader sh = se.addHeader();
 * </PRE>
 *
 *   <P>A <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object can have only <CODE>
 *   SOAPHeaderElement</CODE> objects as its immediate children. The
 *   method <CODE>addHeaderElement</CODE> creates a new <CODE>
 *   HeaderElement</CODE> object and adds it to the <CODE>
 *   SOAPHeader</CODE> object. In the following line of code, the
 *   argument to the method <CODE>addHeaderElement</CODE> is a
 *   <CODE>Name</CODE> object that is the name for the new <CODE>
 *   HeaderElement</CODE> object.</P>
 * <PRE>
 *     SOAPHeaderElement shElement = sh.addHeaderElement(name);
 * </PRE>
 * @see SOAPHeaderElement SOAPHeaderElement
 */
public interface SOAPHeader extends SOAPElement {

    /**
     * Creates a new <CODE>SOAPHeaderElement</CODE> object
     * initialized with the specified name and adds it to this
     * <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object.
     * @param   name a <CODE>Name</CODE> object with
     *     the name of the new <CODE>SOAPHeaderElement</CODE>
     *     object
     * @return the new <CODE>SOAPHeaderElement</CODE> object that
     *     was inserted into this <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE>
     *     object
     * @throws  SOAPException if a SOAP error occurs
     */
    public abstract SOAPHeaderElement addHeaderElement(Name name)
        throws SOAPException;

    /**
     * Returns a list of all the <CODE>SOAPHeaderElement</CODE>
     * objects in this <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object that have the
     * the specified actor. An actor is a global attribute that
     * indicates the intermediate parties to whom the message should
     * be sent. An actor receives the message and then sends it to
     * the next actor. The default actor is the ultimate intended
     * recipient for the message, so if no actor attribute is
     * included in a <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object, the message is
     * sent to its ultimate destination.
     * @param   actor  a <CODE>String</CODE> giving the
     *     URI of the actor for which to search
     * @return an <CODE>Iterator</CODE> object over all the <CODE>
     *     SOAPHeaderElement</CODE> objects that contain the
     *     specified actor
     * @see #extractHeaderElements(java.lang.String) extractHeaderElements(java.lang.String)
     */
    public abstract Iterator examineHeaderElements(String actor);

    /**
     * Returns a list of all the <CODE>SOAPHeaderElement</CODE>
     *   objects in this <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object that have
     *   the the specified actor and detaches them from this <CODE>
     *   SOAPHeader</CODE> object.
     *
     *   <P>This method allows an actor to process only the parts of
     *   the <CODE>SOAPHeader</CODE> object that apply to it and to
     *   remove them before passing the message on to the next
     *   actor.
     * @param   actor  a <CODE>String</CODE> giving the
     *     URI of the actor for which to search
     * @return an <CODE>Iterator</CODE> object over all the <CODE>
     *     SOAPHeaderElement</CODE> objects that contain the
     *     specified actor
     * @see #examineHeaderElements(java.lang.String) examineHeaderElements(java.lang.String)
     */
    public abstract Iterator extractHeaderElements(String actor);
}