1 /*
2 * Copyright 2004 The Apache Software Foundation
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.apache.commons.convert;
17
18 /**
19 * Defines a factory for Conversion objects that will create a conversion on demand
20 * or return a singleton.
21 *
22 * @author Stephen Colebourne
23 * @version $Id: ConversionFactory.java 155441 2005-02-26 13:19:22Z dirkv $
24 * @since 1.0
25 */
26 public interface ConversionFactory {
27
28 /**
29 * Checks if this factory supports the required conversion returning a
30 * percentage match.
31 * <p>
32 * The returned <code>int</code> represents the percentage by which this
33 * factory matches the required conversion. The percentage (ie 0-100) is used
34 * to determine which conversion factory to use when a conflict arises.
35 *
36 * @param value the value to be converted, read only, may be null
37 * @param fromType the type to convert from, may be null
38 * @param toType the type to convert to, may be null
39 * @return a value between 0 and 100 inclusive, 0 means no match, 100 perfact match
40 */
41 int getMatchPercent(Object value, Class fromType, Class toType);
42
43 /**
44 * Create a conversion object for the conversion.
45 * <p>
46 * The returned conversion must not store the value. The conversion object
47 * will be used repeatedly for all future conversions between these two types
48 * without further reference to the factory.
49 *
50 * @param value the value to be converted, read only, may be null
51 * @param fromType the type to convert from, may be null
52 * @param toType the type to convert to, may be null
53 * @return a Conversion object for repeatedly performing conversions
54 */
55 Conversion getInstance(Object value, Class fromType, Class toType);
56
57 }