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1   /*
2    * Copyright 2002-2004 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.clazz;
17  
18  /***
19   * An object resposible for allocating new <b>instances</b> of a Clazz.
20   * 
21   * @author <a href="mailto:dmitri@apache.org">Dmitri Plotnikov</a>
22   * @version $Id: ClazzInstanceFactory.java,v 1.3 2004/02/19 23:58:37 scolebourne Exp $
23   */
24  public interface ClazzInstanceFactory extends ClazzFeature {
25  
26      /***
27       * Creates a new instance.
28       * @param parameters is the list of parameters. It can be null if the
29       * factory takes no parameters.
30       */
31      Object newInstance(Object[] parameters);
32      
33      /***
34       * Returns the name of the factory. May be null.
35       */
36      String getName();
37      
38      /***
39       * Returns the factory parameter types.
40       */
41      Clazz[] getParameterClazzes();
42      
43      /***
44       * Returns the signature of the factory in the format 
45       * "factoryName(paramType1,...)", where "factoryName" may be empty.
46       */
47      String getSignature();
48  }