/*
 * Copyright 2005-2013 the original author or authors.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.springframework.ldap.core;

import javax.naming.Name;
import javax.naming.NamingException;
import javax.naming.directory.Attributes;

/**
 * An interface used by LdapTemplate for mapping LDAP Attributes to beans. Implementions
 * of this interface perform the actual work of extracting results, but need not worry
 * about exception handling. <code>NamingExceptions</code> will be caught and handled
 * correctly by the {@link LdapTemplate} class.
 * <p>
 * Typically used in search methods of {@link LdapTemplate}. <code>AttributeMapper</code>
 * objects are normally stateless and thus reusable; they are ideal for implementing
 * attribute-mapping logic in one place.
 * <p>
 * Alternatively, consider using a {@link ContextMapper} in stead.
 *
 * @author Mattias Hellborg Arthursson
 * @see LdapTemplate#search(Name, String, AttributesMapper)
 * @see LdapTemplate#lookup(Name, AttributesMapper)
 * @see ContextMapper
 */
public interface AttributesMapper<T> {

	/**
	 * Map Attributes to an object. The supplied attributes are the attributes from a
	 * single SearchResult.
	 * @param attributes attributes from a SearchResult.
	 * @return an object built from the attributes.
	 * @throws NamingException if any error occurs mapping the attributes
	 */
	T mapFromAttributes(Attributes attributes) throws NamingException;

}
