| Purpose: Allows customization of how an object is created/instantiated.
So, here is how it works:
If there is no method specified
- all the other settings are ignored and
- the descriptor class's default constructor is invoked.
If a factory is specified
- the factoryClass and factoryClassMethod are ignored and
- the method is invoked on the factory.
If neither a factory nor a factoryClass are specified
- the factoryClassMethod is ignored and
- the method is invoked on the descriptor class (as a static).
If only the factoryClass is specified
- the factory is created by invoking the factoryClass' default (zero-argument) constructor and
- the method is invoked on the resulting factory.
If both the factoryClass and the factoryClassMethod are specified
- the factory is created by invoking the factoryClassMethod on the factoryClass (as a static) and
- the method is invoked on the resulting factory.
The only thing we can't support in the current configuration is invoking a static on some,
client-specified, factoryClass to build new instances of the descriptor class; and it's debatable
whether that is desirable...
It might be reasonable to rework this into a number of different classes that implement
an interface... |