001// Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008 The Apache Software Foundation
002//
003// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
004// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
005// You may obtain a copy of the License at
006//
007//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
008//
009// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
010// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
011// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
012// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
013// limitations under the License.
014
015package org.apache.tapestry5.services;
016
017import org.apache.tapestry5.ioc.annotations.UsesOrderedConfiguration;
018
019import java.io.IOException;
020
021/**
022 * A dispatcher is responsible for recognizing an incoming request. Dispatchers form an ordered chain of command, with
023 * each dispatcher responsible for recognizing requests that it can process.  This is the interface for the
024 * MasterDispatcher service, which takes an ordered configuration of Dispatchers (that is, the chain of command
025 * pattern). If no dispatcher processes the request, it will ultimately be passed off to the servlet container.
026 */
027@UsesOrderedConfiguration(Dispatcher.class)
028public interface Dispatcher
029{
030    /**
031     * Analyzes the incoming request and performs an appropriate operation for each.
032     *
033     * @return true if a response was delivered, false if the dispatcher did not handle the request (and a search for a
034     *         handler should continue)
035     */
036    boolean dispatch(Request request, Response response) throws IOException;
037}