01: /*
02: * GeoTools - OpenSource mapping toolkit
03: * http://geotools.org
04: * (C) 2002-2006, GeoTools Project Managment Committee (PMC)
05: *
06: * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
07: * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
08: * License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
09: * version 2.1 of the License.
10: *
11: * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
12: * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
13: * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
14: * Lesser General Public License for more details.
15: */
16: package org.geotools.util;
17:
18: import org.geotools.factory.Hints;
19:
20: /**
21: * Factory used to create instances of {@link Converter}.
22: *
23: * @author Justin Deoliveira, The Open Planning Project
24: *
25: * @since 2.4
26: *
27: */
28: public interface ConverterFactory {
29: /**
30: * Creates a {@link Converter} instance for converting one type
31: * of object to another.
32: *
33: * @param source The type to convert from.
34: * @param target The type to convert to.
35: * @param hints Hints used to be used while creating a converter.
36: *
37: * @return The converter, or <code>null</code> if one could not be found.
38: */
39: Converter createConverter(Class source, Class target, Hints hints);
40: }
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