001/*
002 * Copyright 2002-2016 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.core.convert.converter;
018
019/**
020 * A factory for "ranged" converters that can convert objects from S to subtypes of R.
021 *
022 * <p>Implementations may additionally implement {@link ConditionalConverter}.
023 *
024 * @author Keith Donald
025 * @since 3.0
026 * @see ConditionalConverter
027 * @param <S> the source type converters created by this factory can convert from
028 * @param <R> the target range (or base) type converters created by this factory can convert to;
029 * for example {@link Number} for a set of number subtypes.
030 */
031public interface ConverterFactory<S, R> {
032
033        /**
034         * Get the converter to convert from S to target type T, where T is also an instance of R.
035         * @param <T> the target type
036         * @param targetType the target type to convert to
037         * @return a converter from S to T
038         */
039        <T extends R> Converter<S, T> getConverter(Class<T> targetType);
040
041}