001/* 002 * Copyright 2002-2012 the original author or authors. 003 * 004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at 007 * 008 * https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 009 * 010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 014 * limitations under the License. 015 */ 016 017package org.springframework.beans.factory.config; 018 019import org.springframework.beans.BeanMetadataElement; 020 021/** 022 * Interface that exposes a reference to a bean name in an abstract fashion. 023 * This interface does not necessarily imply a reference to an actual bean 024 * instance; it just expresses a logical reference to the name of a bean. 025 * 026 * <p>Serves as common interface implemented by any kind of bean reference 027 * holder, such as {@link RuntimeBeanReference RuntimeBeanReference} and 028 * {@link RuntimeBeanNameReference RuntimeBeanNameReference}. 029 * 030 * @author Juergen Hoeller 031 * @since 2.0 032 */ 033public interface BeanReference extends BeanMetadataElement { 034 035 /** 036 * Return the target bean name that this reference points to (never {@code null}). 037 */ 038 String getBeanName(); 039 040}