Describer.java

/* Copyright 2013 Jonatan Jönsson
 *
 *    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 se.softhouse.common.strings;

import java.util.Locale;

import javax.annotation.CheckReturnValue;
import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
import javax.annotation.Nullable;
import javax.annotation.concurrent.Immutable;

/**
 * Describes values of the type {@code T} (or subclasses of {@code T}). Useful
 * when {@link Object#toString()} doesn't give you what you want.
 * 
 * @param <T> the type to describe
 * @see Describers
 */
@Immutable
public interface Describer<T>
{
	/**
	 * @param value the value to describe
	 * @param inLocale the {@link Locale} to use when formatting the resulting {@link String}
	 * @return a {@link String} describing {@code value}
	 */
	@CheckReturnValue
	@Nonnull
	String describe(@Nullable T value, Locale inLocale);
}