This is a collection of some common interfaces that describe everyday use cases. It is mainly intended for API providers who don't want to redeclare somewhat trivial interfaces all the time.
This library is hosted in the Maven Central Repository. You can use it with the following coordinates:
<dependency>
<groupId>net.markenwerk</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-interfaces</artifactId>
<version>4.0.2</version>
</dependency>
Consult the description and Javadoc for further information.
Some interfaces, especially functional interfaces, are - by their nature - generic enough to describe a very broad field of situation. The Java standard API doesn't provide such interfaces, but some of the standard interfaces are used in a generic way. This is especially true for Runnable
, which is used in event queues everywhere, although it has very specific semantics in relation to Thread
. On the other hand, it wouldn't be very useful to create new interfaces with a similar signature, particularly because Runnable
is already a very concise and descriptive name.
A well chosen, concise and descriptive name reduces the necessity for a bulky method documentation, so even in an Java 8 environment, it may be better to use such interfaces, instead of a generic Function
parameters.
Project specific declaration of common interfaces leads to unnecessary duplication and sometimes even the necessity to implement the same basic functionality repeatedly.
Therefore, this library provides a collection of common interfaces that describe everyday situations.
The Check
interface should be used by components that perform tests.
A Check
must implement the following method:
public boolean test();
A Check
should not throw any exceptions.
The Predicate
interface should be used by components that perform tests on test subjects.
A Predicate
must implement the following method:
public boolean test(Subject subject);
A Predicate
should not throw any exceptions.
The Callback
interface should be used by components that perform an operation that will eventually yield a result.
A Callback
needs to implement the following method:
public void onResult(Callee callee, Result result);
A Callback
should not throw any exceptions.
The Handler
interface should be used by components that perform an operation that may encounter some condition and needs to delegate the handling.
A Handler
needs to implement the following method:
public void handle(Handler result) throws HandlingException;
A Handler
should wrap every exception in an HandlingException
.
The Processor
interface should be used by components that perform modifications on some values.
A Processor
needs to implement the following method:
public value process(Value value) throws ProcessingException;
A Processor
should wrap every exception in an ProcessingException
.
The Converter
interface should be used by components that perform conversions on some values.
A Converter
needs to implement the following method:
public To convert(From from) throws ConversionException;
A Converter
should wrap every exception in an ConversionException
.
The Translator
interface should be used by components that perform conversions on some values in both directions. It is an extension of Converter
.
A Translator
needs to implement the following methods:
public To convert(From from) throws ConversionException;
public To revert(From from) throws ConversionException;
A Translator
should wrap every exception in an ConversionException
.
The Provider
interface should be used by components that may need a value that may be costly (time-consuming) to produce and don't wan't to enforce its creation prematurely.
A Provider
needs to implement the following method:
public Product provide() throws ProvisioningException;
A Provider
should wrap every exception in an ProvisioningException
.
The Producer
interface should be used when a simple Provider
is not sufficient, because it is necessary to obtain contextual (e.g. location-, date-, or language-dependent) values. It acts like a Provider
that takes orders and produces corresponding values.
A Producer
needs to implement the following method:
public Product produce(Order order) throws ProductionException;
A Producer
should wrap every exception in an ProductionException
.