/*
* Copyright 2016 the original author or authors.
*
* 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.gradle.internal.actor;
import org.gradle.internal.concurrent.Stoppable;
import org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadSafe;
import org.gradle.internal.dispatch.Dispatch;
import org.gradle.internal.dispatch.DispatchException;
import org.gradle.internal.dispatch.MethodInvocation;
/**
* <p>An {@code Actor} dispatches method calls to a target object in a thread-safe manner. Methods are called either by
* calling {@link Dispatch#dispatch(Object)} on the actor, or using the proxy object
* returned by {@link #getProxy(Class)}. Methods are delivered to the target object in the order they are called on the
* actor, but are delivered to the target object by a single thread at a time. In this way, the target object does not need
* to perform any synchronisation.</p>
*
* <p>An actor uses one of two modes to deliver method calls to the target object:</p>
*
* <ul>
* <li>Non-blocking, or asynchronous, so that method dispatch does not block waiting for the method call to be delivered or executed.
* In this mode, the method return value or exception is not delivered back to the dispatcher.
* </li>
*
* <li>Blocking, or synchronous, so that method dispatch blocks until the method call has been delivered and executed. In this mode, the
* method return value or exception is delivered back to the dispatcher.
* </li>
*
* </ul>
*
* <p>All implementations of this interface must be thread-safe.</p>
*/
public interface Actor extends Dispatch<MethodInvocation>, Stoppable, ThreadSafe {
/**
* Creates a proxy which delivers method calls to the target object.
*
* @param type the type for the proxy.
* @return The proxy.
*/
<T> T getProxy(Class<T> type);
/**
* Stops accepting new method calls, and blocks until all method calls have been executed by the target object.
*
* @throws DispatchException When there were any failures dispatching method calls to the target object.
*/
void stop() throws DispatchException;
}