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Java > Open Source Codes > org > springframework > binding > convert > Converter


1 /*
2  * Copyright 2002-2006 the original author or authors.
3  *
4  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
5  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
6  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
7  *
8  * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
9  *
10  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14  * limitations under the License.
15  */
16 package org.springframework.binding.convert;
17
18 /**
19  * A type converter converts objects from one type to another. They may support
20  * conversion of multiple source types to multiple target types.
21  * <p>
22  * Implementations of this interface are thread-safe.
23  * @author Keith Donald
24  */
25 public interface Converter {
26
27     /**
28      * The source classes this converter can convert from.
29      * @return The supported source classes.
30      */
31     public Class JavaDoc[] getSourceClasses();
32
33     /**
34      * The target classes this converter can convert to.
35      * @return The supported target classes.
36      */
37     public Class JavaDoc[] getTargetClasses();
38
39     /**
40      * Convert the provided source object argument to an instance of the
41      * specified target class.
42      *
43      * @param source the source object to convert, its class must be one of the
44      * supported <code>sourceClasses</code>
45      * @param targetClass the target class to convert the source to, must be one
46      * of the supported <code>targetClasses</code>
47      * @param context an optional conversion context that may be used to
48      * influence the conversion process.
49      * @return The converted object, an instance of the default target type
50      * @throws ConversionException An exception occured during the conversion
51      */
52     public Object JavaDoc convert(Object JavaDoc source, Class JavaDoc targetClass, ConversionContext context) throws ConversionException;
53
54 }
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