/*
 * Copyright (c) 1995, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 * ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 *
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 */

package java.net;

/**
 * This interface defines a factory for {@code URL} stream
 * protocol handlers.
 *
 * <p> A URL stream handler factory is used as specified in the
 * {@linkplain java.net.URL#URL(String,String,int,String) URL constructor}.
 *
 * @author Arthur van Hoff
 * @see java.net.URL
 * @see java.net.URLStreamHandler
 * @since 1.0
 */
public interface URLStreamHandlerFactory {
 /**
 * Creates a new {@code URLStreamHandler} instance with the specified
 * protocol.
 *
 * @param protocol the protocol ("{@code ftp}",
 * "{@code http}", "{@code nntp}", etc.).
 * @return a {@code URLStreamHandler} for the specific protocol, or {@code
 * null} if this factory cannot create a handler for the specific
 * protocol
 * @see java.net.URLStreamHandler
 */
 URLStreamHandler createURLStreamHandler(String protocol);
}