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

  Program:   Insight Segmentation & Registration Toolkit
  Module:    $RCSfile: itkSegmentationBorder.h,v $
  Language:  C++
  Date:      $Date: 2006/02/06 22:01:58 $
  Version:   $Revision: 1.9 $

  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 __itkSegmentationBorder_h
#define __itkSegmentationBorder_h

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

namespace itk
{

/** \class SegmentationBorder
 * \brief Base class for SegmentationBorder object
 *
 * itkSegmentationBorder is the base class for the SegmentationBorder
 * objects. It provides the basic function definitons that are inherent to a
 * SegmentationBorder objects.  This object stores information relevant to
 * the borders that are used in the region growing class. This class allows
 * access to the parameter that defines the length of the border associated
 * with this object.  In order to use this object in an application, the
 * object must be created within the application and then used to
 * initialize/store/use the various parameters accessible through the public
 * methods. For usage also see itkRegionGrowImageFiltering class.
 * This object can be used where a border of a region needs to be defined.
 * Child classes can be derived from this class for tailoring them towards
 * specific algorithmic needs.
 *
 * \ingroup RegionGrowingSegmentation
 */
class ITKCommon_EXPORT SegmentationBorder : public Object
{
public:
  /** Standard class typedefs. */
  typedef SegmentationBorder   Self;
  typedef Object Superclass;
  typedef SmartPointer<Self>  Pointer;
  typedef SmartPointer<const Self>  ConstPointer;

  /** Method for creation through the object factory. */
  itkNewMacro(Self);

  /** Run-time type information (and related methods). */
  itkTypeMacro(SegmentationBorder,Object);

  /** Set/Get the length of a border object. */
  itkSetMacro(BorderLength, double);
  itkGetConstReferenceMacro(BorderLength, double);

  /** Define a virtual SegmentationBorder function. This function allows
   * access to specific instantiations of other border representations. This
   * is the function should be overloaded in any derived classes for the user
   * to access the various methods supported by the method. */
  virtual void ApplySegmentationBorder(){};

protected:
  SegmentationBorder();
  ~SegmentationBorder();
  void PrintSelf(std::ostream& os, Indent indent) const;

private:
  SegmentationBorder(const Self&); //purposely not implemented
  void operator=(const Self&); //purposely not implemented

  double m_BorderLength;

};


} // end namespace itk


#endif
