01: /*
02: * Copyright 2002-2005 the original author or authors.
03: *
04: * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
05: * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
06: * You may obtain a copy of the License at
07: *
08: * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
09: *
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:
17: package org.springframework.metadata;
18:
19: import java.lang.reflect.Field;
20: import java.lang.reflect.Method;
21: import java.util.Collection;
22:
23: /**
24: * Interface for accessing attributes at runtime. This is a facade,
25: * which can accommodate any attributes API such as Jakarta Commons Attributes,
26: * or (possibly in future) a Spring attributes implementation.
27: *
28: * <p>The purpose of using this interface is to decouple Spring code from any
29: * specific attributes implementation. Even once JSR-175 is available, there
30: * is still value in such a facade interface, as it allows for hierarchical
31: * attribute sources: for example, an XML file or properties file might override
32: * some attributes defined in source-level metadata with JSR-175 or another framework.
33: *
34: * @author Mark Pollack
35: * @author Rod Johnson
36: * @since 30.09.2003
37: * @see org.springframework.metadata.commons.CommonsAttributes
38: */
39: public interface Attributes {
40:
41: /**
42: * Return the class attributes of the target class.
43: * @param targetClass the class that contains attribute information
44: * @return a collection of attributes, possibly an empty collection, never <code>null</code>
45: */
46: Collection getAttributes(Class targetClass);
47:
48: /**
49: * Return the class attributes of the target class of a given type.
50: * <p>The class attributes are filtered by providing a <code>Class</code>
51: * reference to indicate the type to filter on. This is useful if you know
52: * the type of the attribute you are looking for and don't want to sort
53: * through the unfiltered Collection yourself.
54: * @param targetClass the class that contains attribute information
55: * @param filter specify that only this type of class should be returned
56: * @return return only the Collection of attributes that are of the filter type
57: */
58: Collection getAttributes(Class targetClass, Class filter);
59:
60: /**
61: * Return the method attributes of the target method.
62: * @param targetMethod the method that contains attribute information
63: * @return a Collection of attributes, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
64: */
65: Collection getAttributes(Method targetMethod);
66:
67: /**
68: * Return the method attributes of the target method of a given type.
69: * <p>The method attributes are filtered by providing a <code>Class</code>
70: * reference to indicate the type to filter on. This is useful if you know
71: * the type of the attribute you are looking for and don't want to sort
72: * through the unfiltered Collection yourself.
73: * @param targetMethod the method that contains attribute information
74: * @param filter specify that only this type of class should be returned
75: * @return a Collection of attributes, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
76: */
77: Collection getAttributes(Method targetMethod, Class filter);
78:
79: /**
80: * Return the field attributes of the target field.
81: * @param targetField the field that contains attribute information
82: * @return a Collection of attribute, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
83: */
84: Collection getAttributes(Field targetField);
85:
86: /**
87: * Return the field attributes of the target method of a given type.
88: * <p>The field attributes are filtered by providing a <code>Class</code>
89: * reference to indicate the type to filter on. This is useful if you know
90: * the type of the attribute you are looking for and don't want to sort
91: * through the unfiltered Collection yourself.
92: * @param targetField the field that contains attribute information
93: * @param filter specify that only this type of class should be returned
94: * @return a Collection of attributes, possibly an empty Collection, never <code>null</code>
95: */
96: Collection getAttributes(Field targetField, Class filter);
97:
98: }
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