componentfactory.java

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/*
 * Copyright 2002-2004 the original author or authors.
 *
 * 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 de.mindmatters.faces.application;

import java.util.Iterator;

import javax.faces.application.Application;
import javax.faces.component.UIComponent;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.faces.el.ValueBinding;

/**
 * <strong>Factory</strong> for managing {@link UIComponent}s. Used by
 * {@link ApplicationImpl}.
 * 
 * @author Andreas Kuhrwahl
 * 
 */
public interface ComponentFactory {

    /**
     * Register a new mapping of component type to the name of the corresponding
     * {@link UIComponent} class. This allows subsequent calls to
     * <code>createComponent()</code> to serve as a factory for
     * {@link UIComponent} instances.
     * 
     * @param application
     *            the <strong>original</strong> Application of the underlying
     *            JSF implementation
     * @param componentType
     *            The component type to be registered
     * @param componentClass
     *            The fully qualified class name of the corresponding
     *            {@link UIComponent} implementation
     * @exception NullPointerException
     *                if <code>componentType</code> or
     *                <code>componentClass</code> is <code>null</code>
     */
    void addComponent(Application application, String componentType,
            String componentClass);

    /**
     * Instantiate and return a new {@link UIComponent} instance of the class
     * specified by a previous call to <code>addComponent()</code> for the
     * specified component type.
     * 
     * @param application
     *            the <strong>original</strong> Application of the underlying
     *            JSF implementation
     * @param componentType
     *            The component type for which to create and return a new
     *            {@link UIComponent} instance
     * @return The created component
     * @exception javax.faces.FacesException
     *                if a {@link UIComponent} of the specified type cannot be
     *                created
     * @exception NullPointerException
     *                if <code>componentType</code> is <code>null</code>
     */
    UIComponent createComponent(Application application, String componentType);

    /**
     * Call the <code>getValue()</code> method on the specified
     * {@link ValueBinding}. If it returns a {@link UIComponent} instance,
     * return it as the value of this method. If it does not, instantiate a new
     * {@link UIComponent} instance of the specified component type, pass the
     * new component to the <code>setValue()</code> method of the specified
     * {@link ValueBinding}, and return it.
     * 
     * @param application
     *            the <strong>original</strong> Application of the underlying
     *            JSF implementation
     * @param componentBinding
     *            {@link ValueBinding} representing a component value binding
     *            expression (typically specified by the <code>component</code>
     *            attribute of a custom tag)
     * @param context
     *            {@link FacesContext} for the current request
     * @param componentType
     *            Component type to create if the {@link ValueBinding} does not
     *            return a component instance
     * @return The created component
     * @exception javax.faces.FacesException
     *                if a {@link UIComponent} cannot be created
     * @exception NullPointerException
     *                if any parameter is <code>null</code>
     */
    UIComponent createComponent(Application application,
            ValueBinding componentBinding, FacesContext context,
            String componentType);

    /**
     * Return an <code>Iterator</code> over the set of currently defined
     * component types for this <code>Application</code>.
     * 
     * @param application
     *            the <strong>original</strong> Application of the underlying
     *            JSF implementation
     * @return An Iterator over the set of currently defined component types
     */
    Iterator getComponentTypes(Application application);

}