/*
 * Copyright 2002-2016 the original author or authors.
 *
 * 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 org.springframework.expression;

import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.List;

MethodFilter instances allow SpEL users to fine tune the behaviour of the method
resolution process. Method resolution (which translates from a method name in an
expression to a real method to invoke) will normally retrieve candidate methods for
invocation via a simple call to 'Class.getMethods()' and will choose the first one that
is suitable for the input parameters. By registering a MethodFilter the user can
receive a callback and change the methods that will be considered suitable.
Author:
Andy Clement
Since:
3.0.1/**
 * MethodFilter instances allow SpEL users to fine tune the behaviour of the method
 * resolution process. Method resolution (which translates from a method name in an
 * expression to a real method to invoke) will normally retrieve candidate methods for
 * invocation via a simple call to 'Class.getMethods()' and will choose the first one that
 * is suitable for the input parameters. By registering a MethodFilter the user can
 * receive a callback and change the methods that will be considered suitable.
 *
 * @author Andy Clement
 * @since 3.0.1
 */
@FunctionalInterface
public interface MethodFilter {

	
Called by the method resolver to allow the SpEL user to organize the list of
candidate methods that may be invoked. The filter can remove methods that should
not be considered candidates and it may sort the results. The resolver will then
search through the methods as returned from the filter when looking for a suitable
candidate to invoke.
Params:
methods – the full list of methods the resolver was going to choose from
Returns:
a possible subset of input methods that may be sorted by order of relevance/**
	 * Called by the method resolver to allow the SpEL user to organize the list of
	 * candidate methods that may be invoked. The filter can remove methods that should
	 * not be considered candidates and it may sort the results. The resolver will then
	 * search through the methods as returned from the filter when looking for a suitable
	 * candidate to invoke.
	 * @param methods the full list of methods the resolver was going to choose from
	 * @return a possible subset of input methods that may be sorted by order of relevance
	 */
	List<Method> filter(List<Method> methods);

}