Attributes


1   /*
2    * Copyright 2002-2005 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  
17  package org.springframework.metadata;
18  
19  import java.lang.reflect.Field  ;
20  import java.lang.reflect.Method  ;
21  import java.util.Collection  ;
22  
23  /**
24   * Interface for accessing attributes at runtime. This is a facade,
25   * which can accommodate any attributes API such as Jakarta Commons Attributes,
26   * or (possibly in future) a Spring attributes implementation.
27   *
28   * <p>The purpose of using this interface is to decouple Spring code from any
29   * specific attributes implementation. Even once JSR-175 is available, there
30   * is still value in such a facade interface, as it allows for hierarchical
31   * attribute sources: for example, an XML file or properties file might override
32   * some attributes defined in source-level metadata with JSR-175 or another framework.
33   *
34   * @author Mark Pollack
35   * @author Rod Johnson
36   * @since 30.09.2003
37   * @see org.springframework.metadata.commons.CommonsAttributes
38   */
39  public interface Attributes {
40  
41      /**
42       * Return the class attributes of the target class.
43       * @param targetClass the class that contains attribute information
44       * @return a collection of attributes, possibly an empty collection, never <code>null</code>
45       */
46      Collection   getAttributes(Class   targetClass);
47  
48      /**
49       * Return the class attributes of the target class of a given type.
50       * <p>The class attributes are filtered by providing a <code>Class</code>
51       * reference to indicate the type to filter on. This is useful if you know
52       * the type of the attribute you are looking for and don't want to sort
53       * through the unfiltered Collection yourself.
54       * @param targetClass the class that contains attribute information
55       * @param filter specify that only this type of class should be returned
56       * @return return only the Collection of attributes that are of the filter type
57       */
58      Collection   getAttributes(Class   targetClass, Class   filter);
59  
60      /**
61       * Return the method attributes of the target method.
62       * @param targetMethod the method that contains attribute information
63       * @return a Collection of attributes, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
64       */
65      Collection   getAttributes(Method   targetMethod);
66  
67      /**
68       * Return the method attributes of the target method of a given type.
69       * <p>The method attributes are filtered by providing a <code>Class</code>
70       * reference to indicate the type to filter on. This is useful if you know
71       * the type of the attribute you are looking for and don't want to sort
72       * through the unfiltered Collection yourself.
73       * @param targetMethod the method that contains attribute information
74       * @param filter specify that only this type of class should be returned
75       * @return a Collection of attributes, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
76       */
77      Collection   getAttributes(Method   targetMethod, Class   filter);
78  
79      /**
80       * Return the field attributes of the target field.
81       * @param targetField the field that contains attribute information
82       * @return a Collection of attribute, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
83       */
84      Collection   getAttributes(Field   targetField);
85  
86      /**
87       * Return the field attributes of the target method of a given type.
88       * <p>The field attributes are filtered by providing a <code>Class</code>
89       * reference to indicate the type to filter on. This is useful if you know
90       * the type of the attribute you are looking for and don't want to sort
91       * through the unfiltered Collection yourself.
92       * @param targetField the field that contains attribute information
93       * @param filter specify that only this type of class should be returned
94       * @return a Collection of attributes, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
95       */
96      Collection   getAttributes(Field   targetField, Class   filter);
97  
98  }
99
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