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1   /*
2    * $Id: Transformer.java 12269 2008-07-10 04:19:03Z dfeist $
3    * --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4    * Copyright (c) MuleSource, Inc.  All rights reserved.  http://www.mulesource.com
5    *
6    * The software in this package is published under the terms of the CPAL v1.0
7    * license, a copy of which has been included with this distribution in the
8    * LICENSE.txt file.
9    */
10  
11  package org.mule.api.transformer;
12  
13  import java.util.List;
14  
15  /**
16   * <code>Transformer</code> can be chained together to covert message payloads
17   * from one object type to another.
18   */
19  public interface Transformer extends BaseTransformer
20  {
21  
22      /**
23       * Determines if a particular source class can be handled by this transformer
24       *
25       * @param aClass The class to check for compatability
26       * @return true if the transformer supports this type of class or false
27       *         otherwise
28       */
29      boolean isSourceTypeSupported(Class aClass);
30  
31  
32      /**
33       * Returns an unmodifiable list of Source types registered on this transformer
34       *
35       * @return an unmodifiable list of Source types registered on this transformer
36       */
37      List getSourceTypes();
38  
39      /**
40       * Does this transformer allow null input?
41       *
42       * @return true if this transformer can accept null input
43       */
44      boolean isAcceptNull();
45  
46      boolean isIgnoreBadInput();
47  
48      /**
49       * Thransforms the supplied data and returns the result
50       *
51       * @param src the data to transform
52       * @return the transformed data
53       * @throws TransformerException if a error occurs transforming the data or if the
54       *                              expected returnClass isn't the same as the transformed data
55       */
56      Object transform(Object src) throws TransformerException;
57  
58      /**
59       * Sets the expected return type for the transformed data. If the transformed
60       * data is not of this class type a <code>TransformerException</code> will be
61       * thrown.
62       *
63       * @param theClass the expected return type class
64       */
65      void setReturnClass(Class theClass);
66  
67      /** @return the exceptedreturn type */
68      Class getReturnClass();
69  
70  }