/*=========================================================================

  Program:   Insight Segmentation & Registration Toolkit
  Module:    $RCSfile: itkLogOutput.h,v $
  Language:  C++
  Date:      $Date: 2006/02/05 20:57:46 $
  Version:   $Revision: 1.3 $

  Copyright (c) Insight Software Consortium. All rights reserved.
  See ITKCopyright.txt or http://www.itk.org/HTML/Copyright.htm for details.

     This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even 
     the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
     PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notices for more information.

=========================================================================*/

#ifndef __itkLogOutput_h
#define __itkLogOutput_h

#include "itkMacro.h"
#include "itkObject.h"
#include "itkObjectFactory.h"

#include <string>

namespace itk
{

/** \class LogOutput
 *  \brief Class LogOutput represents an output stream.
 *
 *  \author Hee-Su Kim, Compute Science Dept. Kyungpook National University,
 *                      ISIS Center, Georgetown University.
 *
 *  \ingroup OSSystemObjects LoggingObjects                    
 */

class ITKCommon_EXPORT LogOutput : public Object
{

public:

  typedef LogOutput Self;
  typedef Object  Superclass;
  typedef SmartPointer<Self>  Pointer;
  typedef SmartPointer<const Self>  ConstPointer;
  
  /** flush a buffer */
  virtual void Flush() = 0;

  /** Write to a buffer */
  virtual void Write( double timestamp ) = 0;

  /** Write to a buffer */
  virtual void Write(const std::string & content ) = 0;

  /** Write to a buffer */
  virtual void Write(const std::string & content, double timestamp) = 0;

protected:
  
  /** Destructor */
  LogOutput() {};

  /** Destructor */
  virtual ~LogOutput() {};

};

}

#endif //__itkLogOutput_h
