org.springframework.binding.convert
Interface ConversionService

All Known Implementing Classes:

DefaultConversionService, GenericConversionService

public interface ConversionService

A service interface for retrieving type conversion executors. The returned command objects are thread-safe and may be safely cached for use by client code. Type converters convert from one type to another.

Author:

Keith Donald

Method Summary

Object	executeConversion(Object source, Class targetClass) Execute a conversion of the source object provided to the specified targetClass
Object	executeConversion(String converterId, Object source, Class targetClass) Execute a conversion using the custom converter with the provided id.
Class	getClassForAlias(String alias) Lookup a class by its well-known alias.
ConversionExecutor	getConversionExecutor(Class sourceClass, Class targetClass) Return the default conversion executor capable of converting source objects of the specified sourceClass to instances of the targetClass.
ConversionExecutor	getConversionExecutor(String id, Class sourceClass, Class targetClass) Return the custom conversion executor capable of converting source objects of the specified sourceClass to instances of the targetClass.
Set	getConversionExecutors(Class sourceClass) Return all conversion executors capable of converting from the provided sourceClass.

Method Detail

executeConversion

Object executeConversion(Object source,
                         Class targetClass)
                         throws ConversionException

Execute a conversion of the source object provided to the specified targetClass

Parameters:

source - the source to convert from (may be null)

targetClass - the target class to convert to

Returns:

the converted object, an instance of the targetClass

Throws:

ConversionException - if an exception occurred during the conversion process

executeConversion

Object executeConversion(String converterId,
                         Object source,
                         Class targetClass)

Execute a conversion using the custom converter with the provided id.

Parameters:

converterId - the id of the custom converter, which must be registered with this conversion service and capable of converting to the target class

source - the source to convert from (may be null)

targetClass - the target class to convert to

Returns:

the converted object, an instance of the targetClass

Throws:

ConversionException - if an exception occurred during the conversion process

getConversionExecutor

ConversionExecutor getConversionExecutor(Class sourceClass,
                                         Class targetClass)
                                         throws ConversionExecutorNotFoundException

Return the default conversion executor capable of converting source objects of the specified sourceClass to instances of the targetClass.

The returned ConversionExecutor is thread-safe and may safely be cached for use in client code.

Parameters:

sourceClass - the source class to convert from (required)

targetClass - the target class to convert to (required)

Returns:

the executor that can execute instance type conversion, never null

Throws:

ConversionExecutorNotFoundException - when no suitable conversion executor could be found

getConversionExecutor

ConversionExecutor getConversionExecutor(String id,
                                         Class sourceClass,
                                         Class targetClass)
                                         throws ConversionExecutorNotFoundException

Return the custom conversion executor capable of converting source objects of the specified sourceClass to instances of the targetClass.

The returned ConversionExecutor is thread-safe and may safely be cached for use in client code.

Parameters:

id - the id of the custom conversion executor (required)

sourceClass - the source class to convert from (required)

targetClass - the target class to convert to (required)

Returns:

the executor that can execute instance type conversion, never null

Throws:

ConversionExecutorNotFoundException - when no suitable conversion executor could be found

getConversionExecutors

Set getConversionExecutors(Class sourceClass)

Return all conversion executors capable of converting from the provided sourceClass. For example, getConversionExecutor(String.class) would return all converters that convert from String to some other Object. Mainly useful for adapting a set of converters to some other environment.

Parameters:

sourceClass - the source class converting from

Returns:

the conversion executors that can convert from that source class

getClassForAlias

Class getClassForAlias(String alias)

Lookup a class by its well-known alias. For example, long for java.lang.Long

Parameters:

alias - the class alias

Returns:

the class, or null if no alias exists