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      1 /**
      2  * Copyright (C) 2008 Google Inc.
      3  *
      4  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
      5  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
      6  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
      7  *
      8  * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
      9  *
     10  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
     11  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
     12  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
     13  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
     14  * limitations under the License.
     15  */
     16 
     17 package com.google.inject.spi;
     18 
     19 import com.google.inject.Binder;
     20 
     21 /**
     22  * A core component of a module or injector.
     23  *
     24  * <p>The elements of a module can be inspected, validated and rewritten. Use {@link
     25  * Elements#getElements(com.google.inject.Module[]) Elements.getElements()} to read the elements
     26  * from a module, and {@link Elements#getModule(Iterable) Elements.getModule()} to rewrite them.
     27  * This can be used for static analysis and generation of Guice modules.
     28  *
     29  * <p>The elements of an injector can be inspected and exercised. Use {@link
     30  * com.google.inject.Injector#getBindings Injector.getBindings()} to reflect on Guice injectors.
     31  *
     32  * @author jessewilson (at) google.com (Jesse Wilson)
     33  * @author crazybob (at) google.com (Bob Lee)
     34  * @since 2.0
     35  */
     36 public interface Element {
     37 
     38   /**
     39    * Returns an arbitrary object containing information about the "place" where this element was
     40    * configured. Used by Guice in the production of descriptive error messages.
     41    *
     42    * <p>Tools might specially handle types they know about; {@code StackTraceElement} is a good
     43    * example. Tools should simply call {@code toString()} on the source object if the type is
     44    * unfamiliar.
     45    */
     46   Object getSource();
     47 
     48   /**
     49    * Accepts an element visitor. Invokes the visitor method specific to this element's type.
     50    *
     51    * @param visitor to call back on
     52    */
     53   <T> T acceptVisitor(ElementVisitor<T> visitor);
     54 
     55   /**
     56    * Writes this module element to the given binder (optional operation).
     57    *
     58    * @param binder to apply configuration element to
     59    * @throws UnsupportedOperationException if the {@code applyTo} method is not supported by this
     60    *     element.
     61    */
     62   void applyTo(Binder binder);
     63 
     64 }
     65