content: /*
   * Node.java July 2006
   *
   * Copyright (C) 2006, Niall Gallagher <niallg@users.sf.net>
   *
   * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   * You may obtain a copy of the License at
   *
   *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
   *
   * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or 
   * implied. See the License for the specific language governing 
   * permissions and limitations under the License.
   */
  
  package com.aliyun.odps.simpleframework.xml.stream;
  
  /**
   * The <code>Node</code> is used to represent a name value pair and
   * acts as the base form of data used within the framework. Each of
   * the attributes and elements are represented as nodes.  
   * 
   * @author Niall Gallagher
   */
  public interface Node {
  
     /**
      * Returns the name of the node that this represents. This is
      * an immutable property and should not change for any node.  
      *  
      * @return returns the name of the node that this represents
      */
     String getName();
  
     /**
      * Returns the value for the node that this represents. This 
      * is a modifiable property for the node and can be changed.
      * 
      * @return the name of the value for this node instance
      * 
      * @throws Exception if there is a problem getting the value
      */
     String getValue() throws Exception;  
     
     /**
      * This is used to acquire the <code>Node</code> that is the
      * parent of this node. This will return the node that is
      * the direct parent of this node and allows for siblings to
      * make use of nodes with their parents if required.  
      *   
      * @return this returns the parent node for this node
      */
     Node getParent();
  }
  