001// ***************************************************************************************************************************
002// * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file *
003// * distributed with this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file        *
004// * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance            *
005// * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at                                                              *
006// *                                                                                                                         *
007// *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0                                                                             *
008// *                                                                                                                         *
009// * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an  *
010// * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the        *
011// * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.                                              *
012// ***************************************************************************************************************************
013package org.apache.juneau.objecttools;
014
015import org.apache.juneau.*;
016
017/**
018 * Common interface for matchers used by the {@link ObjectSearcher} class.
019 *
020 * <h5 class='section'>See Also:</h5><ul>
021 *    <li class='link'><a class="doclink" href="../../../../index.html#jm.ObjectTools">Overview &gt; juneau-marshall &gt; Object Tools</a>
022 * </ul>
023 */
024public abstract class MatcherFactory {
025
026   /**
027    * Returns <jk>true</jk> if this matcher can be used on the specified object.
028    *
029    * @param cm The class type of the object being matched.  Never <jk>null</jk>.
030    * @return <jk>true</jk> if this matcher can be used on the specified object.
031    */
032   public abstract boolean canMatch(ClassMeta<?> cm);
033
034   /**
035    * Instantiates a matcher for the specified pattern.
036    *
037    * @param pattern The pattern string.
038    * @return A matcher for the specified pattern.
039    */
040   public abstract AbstractMatcher create(String pattern);
041}