/* -*- Mode: IDL; tab-width: 2; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 2 -*- */
/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
 * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */

#include "nsISupports.idl"

interface nsITimerCallback;

/**
 * An interface describing a global application service that allows long
 * duration (e.g. 1-7 or more days, weeks or months) timers to be registered
 * and then fired.
 */
[scriptable, uuid(0765c92c-6145-4253-9db4-594d8023087e)]
interface nsIUpdateTimerManager : nsISupports
{
  /**
   * Register an interval with the timer manager. The timer manager
   * periodically checks to see if the interval has expired and if it has
   * calls the specified callback. This is persistent across application
   * restarts and can handle intervals of long durations.
   * @param   id
   *          An id that identifies the interval, used for persistence
   * @param   callback
   *          A nsITimerCallback object that is notified when the interval
   *          expires
   * @param   interval
   *          The length of time, in seconds, of the interval
   *
   * Note: to avoid having to instantiate a component to call registerTimer
   * the component can intead register an update-timer category with comma
   * separated values as a single string representing the timer as follows.
   *
   * _xpcom_categories: [{ category: "update-timer",
   *                       value: "contractID," +
   *                              "method," +
   *                              "id," +
   *                              "preference," +
   *                              "interval" }],
   * the values are as follows
   *   contractID : the contract ID for the component.
   *   method     : the method used to instantiate the interface. This should be
   *                either getService or createInstance depending on your
   *                component.
   *   id         : the id that identifies the interval, used for persistence.
   *   preference : the preference to for timer interval. This value can be
   *                optional by specifying an empty string for the value.
   *   interval   : the default interval in seconds for the timer.
   */
  void registerTimer(in AString id,
                     in nsITimerCallback callback,
                     in unsigned long interval);

  /**
   * Unregister an existing interval from the timer manager.
   *
   * @param   id
   *          An id that identifies the interval.
   */
  void unregisterTimer(in AString id);
};