/*
 * 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 org.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 org.simpleframework.xml.transform.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
    * 
    * @throws Exception thrown if a transform could not be found
    */ 
   public Transform match(Class type) throws Exception;
}
