Home | History | Annotate | Download | only in inject
      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;
     18 
     19 import com.google.inject.spi.BindingScopingVisitor;
     20 import com.google.inject.spi.BindingTargetVisitor;
     21 import com.google.inject.spi.Element;
     22 
     23 /**
     24  * A mapping from a key (type and optional annotation) to the strategy for getting instances of the
     25  * type. This interface is part of the introspection API and is intended primarily for use by
     26  * tools.
     27  *
     28  * <p>Bindings are created in several ways:
     29  * <ul>
     30  *     <li>Explicitly in a module, via {@code bind()} and {@code bindConstant()}
     31  *         statements:
     32  * <pre>
     33  *     bind(Service.class).annotatedWith(Red.class).to(ServiceImpl.class);
     34  *     bindConstant().annotatedWith(ServerHost.class).to(args[0]);</pre></li>
     35  *     <li>Implicitly by the Injector by following a type's {@link ImplementedBy
     36  *         pointer} {@link ProvidedBy annotations} or by using its {@link Inject annotated} or
     37  *         default constructor.</li>
     38  *     <li>By converting a bound instance to a different type.</li>
     39  *     <li>For {@link Provider providers}, by delegating to the binding for the provided type.</li>
     40  * </ul>
     41  *
     42  *
     43  * <p>They exist on both modules and on injectors, and their behaviour is different for each:
     44  * <ul>
     45  *     <li><strong>Module bindings</strong> are incomplete and cannot be used to provide instances.
     46  *         This is because the applicable scopes and interceptors may not be known until an injector
     47  *         is created. From a tool's perspective, module bindings are like the injector's source
     48  *         code. They can be inspected or rewritten, but this analysis must be done statically.</li>
     49  *     <li><strong>Injector bindings</strong> are complete and valid and can be used to provide
     50  *         instances. From a tools' perspective, injector bindings are like reflection for an
     51  *         injector. They have full runtime information, including the complete graph of injections
     52  *         necessary to satisfy a binding.</li>
     53  * </ul>
     54  *
     55  * @param <T> the bound type. The injected is always assignable to this type.
     56  *
     57  * @author crazybob (at) google.com (Bob Lee)
     58  * @author jessewilson (at) google.com (Jesse Wilson)
     59  */
     60 public interface Binding<T> extends Element {
     61 
     62   /**
     63    * Returns the key for this binding.
     64    */
     65   Key<T> getKey();
     66 
     67   /**
     68    * Returns the scoped provider guice uses to fulfill requests for this
     69    * binding.
     70    *
     71    * @throws UnsupportedOperationException when invoked on a {@link Binding}
     72    *      created via {@link com.google.inject.spi.Elements#getElements}. This
     73    *      method is only supported on {@link Binding}s returned from an injector.
     74    */
     75   Provider<T> getProvider();
     76 
     77   /**
     78    * Accepts a target visitor. Invokes the visitor method specific to this binding's target.
     79    *
     80    * @param visitor to call back on
     81    * @since 2.0
     82    */
     83   <V> V acceptTargetVisitor(BindingTargetVisitor<? super T, V> visitor);
     84 
     85   /**
     86    * Accepts a scoping visitor. Invokes the visitor method specific to this binding's scoping.
     87    *
     88    * @param visitor to call back on
     89    * @since 2.0
     90    */
     91   <V> V acceptScopingVisitor(BindingScopingVisitor<V> visitor);
     92 }
     93