content: /*
   * Matcher.java May 2007
   *
   * Copyright (C) 2007, Niall Gallagher <niallg@users.sf.net>
   *
   * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   * You may obtain a copy of the License at
   *
   *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
   *
   * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or 
   * implied. See the License for the specific language governing 
   * permissions and limitations under the License.
   */
  
  package com.aliyun.odps.simpleframework.xml.transform;
  
  /**
   * The <code>Matcher</code> is used to match a type with a transform
   * such that a string value can be read or written as that type. If
   * there is no match this will typically return a null to indicate
   * that another matcher should be delegated to. If there is an error
   * in performing the match an exception is thrown.
   * 
   * @author Niall Gallagher
   * 
   * @see Transformer
   */
  public interface Matcher {
  
     /**
      * This is used to match a <code>Transform</code> using the type
      * specified. If no transform can be acquired then this returns
      * a null value indicating that no transform could be found.
      * 
      * @param type this is the type to acquire the transform for
      * 
      * @return returns a transform for processing the type given
      */ 
     Transform match(Class type) throws Exception;
  }
  