001// Copyright 2007, 2011 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.ioc;
016
017import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
018
019/**
020 * A source of annotations. This interface is used to mask where the annotations come from (for example, from a Method,
021 * a Class, or some other source).
022 */
023public interface AnnotationProvider
024{
025    /**
026     * Searches for the specified annotation, returning the matching annotation instance.
027     *
028     * @param <T>
029     * @param annotationClass used to select the annotation to return
030     * @return the annotation, or null if not found
031     */
032    <T extends Annotation> T getAnnotation(Class<T> annotationClass);
033}