/*
 * Copyright 2002-2005 the original author or authors.
 * 
 * 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 org.springframework.context;

/**
 * Sub-interface of MessageSource to be implemented by objects that
 * can resolve messages hierarchically.
 *
 * @author Rod Johnson
 * @author Juergen Hoeller
 */
public interface HierarchicalMessageSource extends MessageSource {
	
	/** 
	 * Set the parent that will be used to try to resolve messages
	 * that this object can't resolve.
	 * @param parent the parent MessageSource that will be used to
	 * resolve messages that this object can't resolve.
	 * May be <code>null</code>, in which case no further resolution is possible.
	 */
	void setParentMessageSource(MessageSource parent);

	/**
	 * Return the parent of this MessageSource, or <code>null</code> if none.
	 */
	MessageSource getParentMessageSource();

}