/* * $Id: Transformer.java 12422 2008-07-29 19:28:48Z tcarlson $ * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Copyright (c) MuleSource, Inc.  All rights reserved.  http://www.mulesource.com * * The software in this package is published under the terms of the CPAL v1.0 * license, a copy of which has been included with this distribution in the * LICENSE.txt file. */package org.mule.api.transformer;import java.util.List;/** * <code>Transformer</code> can be chained together to covert message payloads * from one object type to another. */public interface Transformer extends BaseTransformer{    /**     * Determines if a particular source class can be handled by this transformer     *     * @param aClass The class to check for compatability     * @return true if the transformer supports this type of class or false     *         otherwise     */    boolean isSourceTypeSupported(Class aClass);    /**     * Returns an unmodifiable list of Source types registered on this transformer     *     * @return an unmodifiable list of Source types registered on this transformer     */    List getSourceTypes();    /**     * Does this transformer allow null input?     *     * @return true if this transformer can accept null input     */    boolean isAcceptNull();    boolean isIgnoreBadInput();    /**     * Thransforms the supplied data and returns the result     *     * @param src the data to transform     * @return the transformed data     * @throws TransformerException if a error occurs transforming the data or if the     *                              expected returnClass isn't the same as the transformed data     */    Object transform(Object src) throws TransformerException;    /**     * Sets the expected return type for the transformed data. If the transformed     * data is not of this class type a <code>TransformerException</code> will be     * thrown.     *     * @param theClass the expected return type class     */    void setReturnClass(Class theClass);    /** @return the exceptedreturn type */    Class getReturnClass();}