/*
 *    GeoTools - OpenSource mapping toolkit
 *    http://geotools.org
 *    (C) 2002-2006, GeoTools Project Managment Committee (PMC)
 *
 *    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;
 *    version 2.1 of the License.
 *
 *    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.
 */
package org.geotools.feature;


/**
 * A drop in replacement for Iterator that does not require casting for Java 1.4 code.
 * <p>
 * We are sorry but this does not implement Iteartor<Feature>, although it should
 * be a drop in replacement when Geotools is able to upgrade to Java 5.
 * </p>
 * @author Ian Schneider
 * @source $URL: http://svn.geotools.org/geotools/tags/2.4.1/modules/library/api/src/main/java/org/geotools/feature/FeatureIterator.java $
 */
public interface FeatureIterator {
    /**
     * Does another Feature exist in this Iteration.
     * <p>
     * Iterator defin: Returns true if the iteration has more elements. (In other words, returns true if next would return an element rather than throwing an exception.)
     * </p>
     * @return true if more Features exist, false otherwise.
     */
    public boolean hasNext();

    /**
     * Get the next Feature in this iteration.
     *
     * @return The next Feature
     *
     * @throws java.util.NoSuchElementException If no more Features exist.
     */
    public Feature next() throws java.util.NoSuchElementException;

    /**
     * Required so FeatureCollection classes can implement close( FeatureIterator ).
     */
    public void close();
}
