/*
 *  PostalRetrievalStrategy.java
 *  Copyright (C) 2006 Amin Ahmad           
 *
 *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 *  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
 *  any later version.
 *
 *  This program 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 General Public License for more details.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
 */
package org.ahmadsoft.postal;

import java.io.File;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.List;


/**
 * Encapsulates a strategy for retrieving postal 
 * codes.
 * @author Amin Ahmad
 */
public interface PostalRetrievalStrategy {

	/**
	 * Initializes the retrieval strategy with the
	 * postal code index and data files.
	 * 
	 * @param indexFile
	 * @param dataFile
	 */
	void initialize(File indexFile, File dataFile) throws Exception;
	
	void dispose() throws Exception;
	
	/**
	 * Retrieves a list of candidate cities for a 
	 * specified postal code.
	 * 
	 * @param postalCode the postal code.
	 * @return a list of candidate cities.
	 */
	List getCandidates(int postalCode);
}