org.springframework.binding.convert
Interface Converter

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractConverter, AbstractFormattingConverter, ConversionServiceAwareConverter, TextToBoolean, TextToClass, TextToExpression, TextToLabeledEnum, TextToMethodSignature, TextToNumber

public interface Converter

A type converter converts objects from one type to another. They may support conversion of multiple source types to multiple target types.

Implementations of this interface are thread-safe.

Author:

Keith Donald

Method Summary

java.lang.Object	convert(java.lang.Object source, java.lang.Class targetClass, ConversionContext context) Convert the provided source object argument to an instance of the specified target class.
java.lang.Class[]	getSourceClasses() The source classes this converter can convert from.
java.lang.Class[]	getTargetClasses() The target classes this converter can convert to.

Method Detail

getSourceClasses

java.lang.Class[] getSourceClasses()

The source classes this converter can convert from.

Returns:

the supported source classes

getTargetClasses

java.lang.Class[] getTargetClasses()

The target classes this converter can convert to.

Returns:

the supported target classes

convert

java.lang.Object convert(java.lang.Object source,
                         java.lang.Class targetClass,
                         ConversionContext context)
                         throws ConversionException

Convert the provided source object argument to an instance of the specified target class.

Parameters:

source - the source object to convert, its class must be one of the supported sourceClasses

targetClass - the target class to convert the source to, must be one of the supported targetClasses

context - an optional conversion context that may be used to influence the conversion process

Returns:

the converted object, an instance of the target type

Throws:

ConversionException - an exception occured during the conversion