001    // Copyright 2004, 2005 The Apache Software Foundation
002    //
003    // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
004    // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
005    // 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
010    // distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
011    // WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
012    // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
013    // limitations under the License.
014    
015    package org.apache.hivemind.lib;
016    
017    
018    /**
019     * Builds a default implementation of an interface. The fabricated class has no-op
020     * implementions for each method in the interface.  Non-void methods return null,
021     * false or zero.  A cached, shared instance of the empty implementation is kept and will
022     * be returned on future invocations.
023     *
024     * @author Howard Lewis Ship
025     */
026    public interface DefaultImplementationBuilder
027    {
028        /**
029         * Builds a default implementation of the indicated interface, instantiates and returns it.
030         * Results are cached for later re-use.
031         * 
032         * @throws org.apache.hivemind.ApplicationRuntimeException if interfaceType is not an interface.
033         */
034        public Object buildDefaultImplementation(Class interfaceType);
035    }