content: /*
   * Copyright (c) OSGi Alliance (2008, 2009). All Rights Reserved.
   *
   * 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 org.osgi.service.blueprint.container;
  
  /**
   * Type converter to convert an object to a target type.
   * 
   * @ThreadSafe
   * @version $Revision$
   */
  public interface Converter {
  
  	/**
  	 * Return if this converter is able to convert the specified object to the
  	 * specified type.
  	 * 
  	 * @param sourceObject The source object <code>s</code> to convert.
  	 * @param targetType The target type <code>T</code>.
  	 * 
  	 * @return <code>true</code> if the conversion is possible,
  	 *         <code>false</code> otherwise.
  	 */
  	boolean canConvert(Object sourceObject, ReifiedType targetType);
  
  	/**
  	 * Convert the specified object to an instance of the specified type.
  	 * 
  	 * @param sourceObject The source object <code>s</code> to convert.
  	 * @param targetType The target type <code>T</code>.
  	 * @return An instance with a type that is assignable from targetType's raw
  	 *         class
  	 * @throws Exception If the conversion cannot succeed. This exception should
  	 *         not be thrown when the {@link #canConvert canConvert} method has
  	 *         returned <code>true</code>.
  	 */
  	Object convert(Object sourceObject, ReifiedType targetType)
  			throws Exception;
  }