001    /*
002     * Copyright 2002-2004 The Apache Software Foundation
003     *
004     * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005     * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006     * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007     *
008     *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009     *
010     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011     * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012     * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013     * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014     * limitations under the License.
015     */
016    package org.apache.commons.clazz;
017    
018    /**
019     * An object resposible for allocating new <b>instances</b> of a Clazz.
020     * 
021     * @author <a href="mailto:dmitri@apache.org">Dmitri Plotnikov</a>
022     * @version $Id: ClazzInstanceFactory.java 155436 2005-02-26 13:17:48Z dirkv $
023     */
024    public interface ClazzInstanceFactory extends ClazzFeature {
025    
026        /**
027         * Creates a new instance.
028         * @param parameters is the list of parameters. It can be null if the
029         * factory takes no parameters.
030         */
031        Object newInstance(Object[] parameters);
032        
033        /**
034         * Returns the name of the factory. May be null.
035         */
036        String getName();
037        
038        /**
039         * Returns the factory parameter types.
040         */
041        Clazz[] getParameterClazzes();
042        
043        /**
044         * Returns the signature of the factory in the format 
045         * "factoryName(paramType1,...)", where "factoryName" may be empty.
046         */
047        String getSignature();
048    }