Converter.java

/* 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 com.labs64.netlicensing.schema.converter;

import com.labs64.netlicensing.exception.ConversionException;

/**
 * A converter converts a source object of type S to a target of type T. Implementations of this interface are
 * thread-safe and can be shared.
 * 
 * @param <S>
 *            The source type
 * @param <T>
 *            The target type
 */
public interface Converter<S, T> {

    /**
     * Convert the source of type S to target type T.
     * 
     * @param source
     *            the source object to converter, which must be an instance of S
     * @return the converted object, which must be an instance of T
     * @throws ConversionException
     *             if the source could not be converted to the desired target type
     */
    T convert(S source) throws ConversionException;

}