FormatConverter.java

package fr.acxio.tools.agia.convert;

/*
 * Copyright 2014 Acxio
 * 
 * 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.
 */

import java.util.List;

/**
 * Format converter interface which defines the conversion methods.
 * 
 * @author pcollardez
 *
 */
public interface FormatConverter {

    /**
     * Converts a string into a list of strings, according to its internal
     * implementation.
     * <p>
     * Being able to convert a string into a list of strings widen the
     * possibilities of conversion.</br> For example, a converter can split a
     * value, do a lookup on an external datasource, or even concatenate many
     * lookup and splits.
     * </p>
     * 
     * @param sSource
     *            a value to convert to an other format
     * @return the converted value
     * @throws ConversionException
     *             if the conversion fails
     */
    List<String> convert(String sSource) throws ConversionException;
}