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    
015    package org.apache.tapestry.services;
016    
017    import java.io.IOException;
018    
019    /**
020     * A dispatcher is responsible for recognizing an incoming request. Dispatchers form an ordered chain of command, with
021     * each dispatcher responsible for recognizing requests that it can process.
022     *
023     * @see org.apache.tapestry.services.TapestryModule#contributeMasterDispatcher(org.apache.tapestry.ioc.OrderedConfiguration,
024     *      ClasspathAssetAliasManager, org.apache.tapestry.internal.services.ResourceCache,
025     *      org.apache.tapestry.internal.services.ResourceStreamer, PageRenderRequestHandler, ComponentEventRequestHandler,
026     *      ComponentClassResolver, ContextValueEncoder, String)
027     */
028    public 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 servlet container should be allowed to handle the request
034         */
035        boolean dispatch(Request request, Response response) throws IOException;
036    }