1 package org.kuali.rice.core.api.mo;
2
3 /**
4 * This is an interface that defines a builder. A builder is an object used to
5 * assemble and construct an instance of another object. Typically the object
6 * being constructed will be an immutable object (and therefore does not
7 * contain "setters" which can be used to mutate it's state). The builder
8 * pattern is a creation pattern that can be used to aid in the construction of
9 * these complex immutable objects.
10 *
11 * <p>This interface only defines a common {@link #build()} method which is
12 * used to return an instance of the object once state has been set on the
13 * builder to a point where construction of an object instance is deemed
14 * acceptable by the client code. Definition of type-specific setter methods
15 * are defined by the classes which implement this interface.
16 *
17 * <p>This version of the builder pattern is proposed by Joshua Bloch in his
18 * book "Effective Java". See "Effective Java" 2nd ed. page 15 for more
19 * information.
20 *
21 * @author Kuali Rice Team (rice.collab@kuali.org)
22 *
23 */
24 public interface ModelBuilder {
25
26 /**
27 * Returns an instance of the object being built by this builder based
28 * on the current state of the builder. It should be possible to
29 * invoke this method more than once on the same builder. It should
30 * never return null;
31 *
32 * @return an instance of the object being built by this builder,
33 * should never return null
34 */
35 Object build();
36
37 }