/*
 * Copyright (c) 2003,2009 Declarative Engineering LLC.
 * All rights reserved.  This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Declarative Engineering LLC
 * verson 1 which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * http://declarativeengineering.com/legal/DE_Developer_License_v1.txt
 */
package com.foundation.clone;

import com.foundation.common.MetadataContainer;
import com.foundation.metadata.CloneContext;

public interface ICloneable extends Cloneable {
	public static final MetadataContainer EMPTY_METADATA = new MetadataContainer();
/**
 * Creates a clone of the implementing object.  A clone is usually a shallow copy of the object, but a clone may be a shallow copy of a composite object as well.
 * @param context The optional cloning context which tracks clone creation to prevent duplicate clones to the same object.  A context will be created if not supplied.
 * @param metadata The metadata used for the cloning.  If none is provided, or if an object is encountered for which there is no metadata, then a best guess will be taken (ie all immutable data and part-of data that is available will be cloned).
 * @return This instance's clone.
 */
public Object cloneObject(CloneContext context, MetadataContainer metadata);
}//ICloneable//