Interface Converter<I,​O>

    • Method Detail

      • canConvert

        default boolean canConvert​(Object src,
                                   Type dest)
        Checks whether the given object's type can be converted to the specified type.
        See Also:
        convert(Object, Type)
      • canConvert

        default boolean canConvert​(Object src,
                                   Class<?> dest)
        Checks whether the given object's type can be converted to the specified type.
        See Also:
        convert(Object, Class)
      • canConvert

        default boolean canConvert​(Class<?> src,
                                   Type dest)
        Checks whether objects of the given class can be converted to the specified type.

        Note that this does not necessarily entail that convert(Object, Type) on a specific object of the given source class will succeed. For example: canConvert(String.class, List<Integer>) will return true because a String can in general be converted to an Integer and then wrapped into a List, but calling convert("5.1", List<Integer>) will throw a NumberFormatException when the conversion is actually attempted via the Integer(String) constructor.

        See Also:
        convert(Object, Type)
      • canConvert

        default boolean canConvert​(Class<?> src,
                                   Class<?> dest)
        Checks whether objects of the given class can be converted to the specified type.

        Note that this does not necessarily entail that convert(Object, Class) on a specific object of the given source class will succeed. For example: canConvert(String.class, int.class) will return true because a String can in general be converted to an int, but calling convert("5.1", int.class) will throw a NumberFormatException when the conversion is actually attempted via the Integer(String) constructor.

        See Also:
        convert(Object, Class)
      • convert

        default Object convert​(Object src,
                               Type dest)
        As convert(Object, Class) but capable of creating and populating multi-element objects (Collections and array types). If a single element type is provided, it will be converted the same as convert(Object, Class). If a multi-element type is detected, then the value parameter will be interpreted as potential collection of values. An appropriate container will be created, and the full set of values will be type converted and added.

        NB: This method should be capable of creating any array type, but if a Collection interface or abstract class is provided we can only make a best guess as to what container type to instantiate; defaults are provided for Set, Queue, and List.

        Parameters:
        src - The object to convert.
        dest - Type to which the object should be converted.
      • convert

        <T> T convert​(Object src,
                      Class<T> dest)
        Converts the given object to an object of the specified type. The object is casted directly if possible, or else a new object is created using the destination type's public constructor that takes the original object as input (except when converting to String, which uses the Object.toString() method instead). In the case of primitive types, returns an object of the corresponding wrapped type. If the destination type does not have an appropriate constructor, returns null.
        Type Parameters:
        T - Type to which the object should be converted.
        Parameters:
        src - The object to convert.
        dest - Type to which the object should be converted.
      • populateInputCandidates

        void populateInputCandidates​(Collection<Object> objects)
        Populates the given collection with objects which are known to exist, and which are usable as inputs for this converter.

        That is: each such object added to the collection would return true if queried with converter.canConvert(object), and hence would produce an output of type getOutputType() if passed to converter.convert(object).

        The means by which "known objects" are determined is implementation dependent, although the most typical use case is to query the ObjectService for known objects of type getInputType(), and return those. But other behaviors are possible, depending on the converter implementation.

        Parameters:
        objects - an initialized collection into which appropriate objects will be inserted.
      • getOutputType

        Class<O> getOutputType()
        Returns:
        The base Class this Converter produces as output.
      • getInputType

        Class<I> getInputType()
        Returns:
        The base Class this Converter accepts as input.
      • supports

        default boolean supports​(ConversionRequest request)
        Description copied from interface: Typed
        Gets whether this object is compatible with the given data object.

        By default, this method will return true iff the data is assignable to the associated type given by Typed.getType(). But individual implementations may have other requirements beyond class assignability.

        Specified by:
        supports in interface Typed<I>