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package org.apache.commons.configuration2.beanutils;


Definition of an interface for bean factories.


Beans defined in configuration files are not directly created, but by so
called bean factories. This additional level of indirection
provides for high flexibility in the creation process. For instance one
implementation of this interface could be very simple and create a new
instance of the specified class for each invocation. A different
implementation could cache already created beans and ensure that always the
same bean of the given class will be returned - this would be an easy mean
for creating singleton objects.

 The interface itself is quite simple. There is a single method for creating a bean of a given class. All necessary parameters are obtained from a passed in BeanCreationContext object. It is also possible (but optional) for a bean factory to declare the default class of the bean it creates. Then it is not necessary to specify a bean class in the bean declaration. 
Since:
1.3/**
 * <p>
 * Definition of an interface for bean factories.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * Beans defined in configuration files are not directly created, but by so
 * called <em>bean factories</em>. This additional level of indirection
 * provides for high flexibility in the creation process. For instance one
 * implementation of this interface could be very simple and create a new
 * instance of the specified class for each invocation. A different
 * implementation could cache already created beans and ensure that always the
 * same bean of the given class will be returned - this would be an easy mean
 * for creating singleton objects.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * The interface itself is quite simple. There is a single method for creating a
 * bean of a given class. All necessary parameters are obtained from a
 * passed in {@link BeanCreationContext} object. It is also possible
 * (but optional) for a bean factory to declare the default class of the bean it
 * creates. Then it is not necessary to specify a bean class in the bean
 * declaration.
 * </p>
 *
 * @since 1.3
 */
public interface BeanFactory
{
    
Returns a bean instance for the given context object. All information about the bean to be created are contained in the provided BeanCreationContext object. This includes a BeanDeclaration defining the properties of the bean. It is up to a concrete implementation how the bean is created and initialized. 
Params:
bcc – the context object for the bean to be created
Throws:
Exception – if an error occurs (the helper classes for creating
        beans will catch this generic exception and wrap it in a
        configuration exception)
Returns:
the new bean instance (should not be null)/**
     * Returns a bean instance for the given context object. All information
     * about the bean to be created are contained in the provided
     * {@code BeanCreationContext} object. This includes a
     * {@link BeanDeclaration} defining the properties of the bean. It is up to
     * a concrete implementation how the bean is created and initialized.
     *
     * @param bcc the context object for the bean to be created
     * @return the new bean instance (should not be <b>null</b>)
     * @throws Exception if an error occurs (the helper classes for creating
     *         beans will catch this generic exception and wrap it in a
     *         configuration exception)
     */
    Object createBean(BeanCreationContext bcc) throws Exception;

    
Returns the default bean class of this bean factory. If an implementation
here returns a non null value, bean declarations using this
factory do not need to provide the name of the bean class. In such a case
an instance of the default class will be created.
Returns:
the default class of this factory or null if there is
none/**
     * Returns the default bean class of this bean factory. If an implementation
     * here returns a non <b>null</b> value, bean declarations using this
     * factory do not need to provide the name of the bean class. In such a case
     * an instance of the default class will be created.
     *
     * @return the default class of this factory or <b>null</b> if there is
     * none
     */
    Class<?> getDefaultBeanClass();
}