001    /**
002     * Copyright 2007 Mike Kroutikov.
003     *
004     * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
005     *   it under the terms of the Lesser GNU General Public License as 
006     *   published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of
007     *   the License, or (at your option) any later version.
008     *
009     *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
010     *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
011     *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
012     *   Lesser GNU General Public License for more details.
013     *
014     *   You should have received a copy of the Lesser GNU General Public License
015     *   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
016     */
017    
018    package org.otfeed.support;
019    
020    /** 
021     * Contract for formatters that know how to
022     * print to and parse from a string.
023     */
024    public interface IFormat<T> {
025            
026            /**
027             * Formats an object to a string.
028             * 
029             * @param obj object to be formatted.
030             * @return string.
031             */
032            public String format(T obj);
033            
034            /**
035             * Parses object from a string.
036             * 
037             * @param val string representation of an object.
038             * @return parsed object.
039             */
040            public T parse(String val);
041    }