// @HEADER
// ***********************************************************************
// 
//                    Teuchos: Common Tools Package
//                 Copyright (2004) Sandia Corporation
// 
// Under terms of Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000, there is a non-exclusive
// license for use of this work by or on behalf of the U.S. Government.
// 
// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
// published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
// License, or (at your option) any later version.
//  
// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
// WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
// Lesser General Public License for more details.
//  
// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
// Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
// USA
// Questions? Contact Michael A. Heroux (maherou@sandia.gov) 
// 
// ***********************************************************************
// @HEADER

#ifndef TEUCHOS_ABSTRACT_FACTORY_HPP
#define TEUCHOS_ABSTRACT_FACTORY_HPP

#include "Teuchos_RCP.hpp"

namespace Teuchos {

/** \brief Simple, universal "Abstract Factory" interface for the
 * dynamic creation of objects.
 *
 * While <tt>RCP</tt> provides for specialized deallocation
 * policies it does not abstract, in any way, how an object is first
 * allocated.  The most general way to abstract how an object is
 * allocated is to use an "Abstract Factory".  This base class defines
 * the most basic "Abstract Factory" interface and defines only one
 * virtual function, <tt>create()</tt> that returns a
 * <tt>RCP</tt>-wrapped object.
 */
template<class T>
class AbstractFactory {
public:

#ifndef DOXYGEN_COMPILE
	/** \brief . */
	typedef Teuchos::RCP<T>   obj_ptr_t;
#endif

	/** \brief . */
	virtual ~AbstractFactory() {}

	/** \brief Create an object of type T returned as a smart reference
	 * counting pointer object.
	 */
	virtual obj_ptr_t create() const = 0;

}; // class AbstractFactory

} // end Teuchos

#endif // TEUCHOS_ABSTRACT_FACTORY_HPP