--- /dev/null
+package net.sourceforge.phpdt.externaltools.variable;
+
+/**********************************************************************
+Copyright (c) 2002 IBM Corp. and others. All rights reserved.
+This file is made available under the terms of the Common Public License v1.0
+which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+http://www.eclipse.org/legal/cpl-v10.html
+
+Contributors:
+**********************************************************************/
+
+import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
+import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Control;
+import net.sourceforge.phpdt.externaltools.group.IGroupDialogPage;
+
+/**
+ * Represents the API for a client extending one of the
+ * variable extension points to provide visual editing
+ * of the variable.
+ * <p>
+ * This interface is not to be extended by clients. Clients
+ * may implement this interface.
+ * </p>
+ */
+public interface IVariableComponent {
+ /**
+ * Returns the control to edit the variable
+ * value, otherwise <code>null</code> if no editing
+ * supported or if <code>createContents</code> has
+ * not been called yet
+ *
+ * @return the main control for the variable component
+ * or <code>null</code> if none
+ */
+ public Control getControl();
+
+ /**
+ * Creates the control to edit the variable. Does nothing
+ * if no editing supported.
+ *
+ * @param parent the composite to parent all controls to
+ * @param varTag the variable tag name to create the controls for
+ * @param page the dialog page this visual component will be part of
+ */
+ public void createContents(Composite parent, String varTag, IGroupDialogPage page);
+
+ /**
+ * Returns the variable value as specified by
+ * the user thru the visual component.
+ *
+ * @return the variable value as indicated by the visual component
+ */
+ public String getVariableValue();
+
+ /**
+ * Returns whether the variable's visual component has an
+ * acceptable value.
+ *
+ * @return <code>true</code> if all value acceptable, or <code>false</code> otherwise
+ */
+ public boolean isValid();
+
+ /**
+ * Sets the visual component to represent the
+ * given variable value.
+ *
+ * @param varValue the variable value the visual component should indicate
+ */
+ public void setVariableValue(String varValue);
+
+ /**
+ * Validates visual component current values entered by the
+ * user and updates it's valid state if needed
+ */
+ public void validate();
+}