/***********************************************************************************************************************
 * Copyright (C) 2010-2013 by the Stratosphere project (http://stratosphere.eu)
 *
 * 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 eu.stratosphere.api.common.operators.util;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;

/**
 * PACT contracts can have either a class or an object containing the user
 * code, this is the common interface to access them.
 */
public interface UserCodeWrapper<T> extends Serializable {
	/**
	 * Gets the user code object. In the case of a pact, that object will be the stub with the user function,
	 * in the case of an input or output format, it will be the format object.
	 * 
	 * The subclass is supposed to just return the user code object or instantiate the class.
	 * 
	 * @return The class with the user code.
	 */
	public T getUserCodeObject(Class<? super T> superClass, ClassLoader cl);
	
	/**
	 * Gets the user code object. In the case of a pact, that object will be the stub with the user function,
	 * in the case of an input or output format, it will be the format object.
	 * 
	 * The subclass is supposed to just return the user code object or instantiate the class.
	 * 
	 * @return The class with the user code.
	 */
	public T getUserCodeObject();
	
	/**
	 * Gets an annotation that pertains to the user code class. By default, this method will look for
	 * annotations statically present on the user code class. However, inheritors may override this
	 * behavior to provide annotations dynamically.
	 * 
	 * @param annotationClass
	 *        the Class object corresponding to the annotation type
	 * @return the annotation, or null if no annotation of the requested type was found
	 */
	public <A extends Annotation> A getUserCodeAnnotation(Class<A> annotationClass);
	
	/**
	 * Gets the class of the user code. If the user code is provided as a class, this class is just returned.
	 * If the user code is provided as an object, {@link Object#getClass()} is called on the user code object.
	 * 
	 * @return The class of the user code object.
	 */
	public Class<? extends T> getUserCodeClass ();
}