org.simpleframework.xml.core.MethodPart Maven / Gradle / Ivy
/*
* MethodPart.java April 2007
*
* Copyright (C) 2007, Niall Gallagher
*
* This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
* modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
* License as published by the Free Software Foundation.
*
* This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General
* Public License along with this library; if not, write to the
* Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
* Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
*/
package org.simpleframework.xml.core;
import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
/**
* The MethodPart interface is used to provide a point
* of contact with an object. Typically this will be used to get a
* method from an object which is contains an XML annotation. This
* provides the type the method is associated with, this type is
* either the method return type or the single value parameter.
*
* @author Niall Gallagher
*/
interface MethodPart {
/**
* This provides the name of the method part as acquired from the
* method name. The name represents the Java Bean property name
* of the method and is used to pair getter and setter methods.
*
* @return this returns the Java Bean name of the method part
*/
public String getName();
/**
* This is the annotation associated with the point of contact.
* This will be an XML annotation that describes how the contact
* should be serializaed and deserialized from the object.
*
* @return this provides the annotation associated with this
*/
public Annotation getAnnotation();
/**
* This is the annotation associated with the point of contact.
* This will be an XML annotation that describes how the contact
* should be serialized and deserialized from the object.
*
* @param type this is the type of the annotation to acquire
*
* @return this provides the annotation associated with this
*/
public T getAnnotation(Class type);
/**
* This will provide the contact type. The contact type is the
* class that is either the method return type or the single
* value parameter type associated with the method.
*
* @return this returns the type that this contact represents
*/
public Class getType();
/**
* This is used to acquire the dependent class for the method
* part. The dependent type is the type that represents the
* generic type of the type. This is used when collections are
* annotated as it allows a default entry class to be taken
* from the generic information provided.
*
* @return this returns the generic dependent for the type
*/
public Class getDependent();
/**
* This is used to acquire the dependent classes for the method
* part. The dependent types are the types that represent the
* generic types of the type. This is used when collections are
* annotated as it allows a default entry class to be taken
* from the generic information provided.
*
* @return this returns the generic dependent for the type
*/
public Class[] getDependents();
/**
* This is the method for this point of contact. This is what
* will be invoked by the serialization or deserialization
* process when an XML element or attribute is to be used.
*
* @return this returns the method associated with this
*/
public Method getMethod();
/**
* This is the method type for the method part. This is used in
* the scanning process to determine which type of method a
* instance represents, this allows set and get methods to be
* paired.
*
* @return the method type that this part represents
*/
public MethodType getMethodType();
/**
* This is used to describe the method as it exists within the
* owning class. This is used to provide error messages that can
* be used to debug issues that occur when processing a method.
* This should return the method as a generic representation.
*
* @return this returns a string representation of the method
*/
public String toString();
}