com.mortbay.Util
Interface Converter

All Known Implementing Classes:
ConverterBase

public interface Converter

Interface for converting classes

Notes

A good check for implementors of this class as a first line is:

 if (toConvert.getClass().equals(convertTo)) return toConvert;
 

Version:
1.0 Thu Jun 8 2000
Author:
Matthew Watson (mattw)
See Also:
ConverterSet

Method Summary
 java.lang.Object convert(java.lang.Object toConvert, java.lang.Class convertTo, Converter context)
          Try to convert a value.
 java.lang.Object unsafeConvert(java.lang.Object toConvert, java.lang.Class convertTo, Converter context)
          Try to convert a value and report errors if conversion not totally successful.
 

Method Detail

convert

public java.lang.Object convert(java.lang.Object toConvert,
                                java.lang.Class convertTo,
                                Converter context)
Try to convert a value.
Parameters:
toConvert - Value to convert
convertTo - Type to convert to
context - The context within which the converter was called. If Converters use other Converters, this is passed as the outermost Converter so that recursive calls have access to all available Converters. Converter implementations should pass this if passed null.
Returns:
The converted value, or null if not possible

unsafeConvert

public java.lang.Object unsafeConvert(java.lang.Object toConvert,
                                      java.lang.Class convertTo,
                                      Converter context)
                               throws ConvertFail
Try to convert a value and report errors if conversion not totally successful.
Parameters:
toConvert - Value to convert
convertTo - Type to convert to
context - The context within which the converter was called. If Converters use other Converters, this is passed as the outermost Converter so that recursive calls have access to all available Converters. Converter implementations should pass this if passed null.
Returns:
The converted value.
Throws:
ConvertFail - If the conversion is not totally successful.