/*
* Copyright 2013 Chris Pheby
*
* 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 org.jadira.reflection.cloning.api;
import java.util.IdentityHashMap;
/**
* A CloneImplementor represents an atomic cloning capability. The interface is implemented by
* classes that can clone a specific type, as well as by {@link CloneStrategy} and
* {@link CloneDriver} implementations. In general users do not work with the methods on this class,
* using {@link Cloner} instead
*/
public interface CloneImplementor {
/**
* Create a new, uninitialised instance of the given class (if supported). Depending on
* strategy, this may or may not initialise instance fields, and may or may not invoke
* constructors.
* @param c Type to create instance of
* @param <T> The type of the instance to be constructed
* @return The new instance
*/
<T> T newInstance(final Class<T> c);
/**
* True if this implementor can clone the given class
* @param clazz The class
* @return True if cloneable, false otherwise
*/
boolean canClone(Class<?> clazz);
/**
* Performs a clone.
* @param obj Object to clone
* @param context The CloneDriver that initiated the request
* @param referencesToReuse Any references for objects already cloned to ensure reference
* identity is preserved
* @param stackDepth The number of objects already cloned in the current data structure
* @param <T> The type of the object to be cloned
* @return The cloned object
*/
<T> T clone(T obj, CloneDriver context, IdentityHashMap<Object, Object> referencesToReuse, long stackDepth);
}