jpa/plugins/org.eclipse.jpt.utility/src/org/eclipse/jpt/utility/internal/StringMatcher.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2007 Oracle. All rights reserved.
 * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
 * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0, which accompanies this distribution
 * and is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html.
 * 
 * Contributors:
 *     Oracle - initial API and implementation
 ******************************************************************************/
package org.eclipse.jpt.utility.internal;

/**
 * This interface defines a simple API for allowing "pluggable"
 * string matchers that can be configured with a pattern string
 * then used to determine what strings match the pattern.
 */
public interface StringMatcher {

	/**
	 * Set the pattern string used to determine future
	 * matches. The format and semantics of the pattern
	 * string are determined by the contract between the
	 * client and the server.
	 */
	void setPatternString(String patternString);

	/**
	 * Return whether the specified string matches the
	 * established pattern string. The semantics of a match
	 * is determined by the contract between the
	 * client and the server.
	 */
	boolean matches(String string);


	StringMatcher NULL_INSTANCE =
		new StringMatcher() {
			public void setPatternString(String patternString) {
				// ignore the pattern string
			}
			public boolean matches(String string) {
				// everything is a match
				return true;
			}
			@Override
			public String toString() {
				return "NullStringMatcher";
			}
		};

}