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.http.services;
016
017import org.apache.tapestry5.http.services.Request;
018import org.apache.tapestry5.http.services.Response;
019import org.apache.tapestry5.ioc.annotations.UsesOrderedConfiguration;
020
021import java.io.IOException;
022
023/**
024 * A dispatcher is responsible for recognizing an incoming request. Dispatchers form an ordered chain of command, with
025 * each dispatcher responsible for recognizing requests that it can process.  This is the interface for the
026 * MasterDispatcher service, which takes an ordered configuration of Dispatchers (that is, the chain of command
027 * pattern). If no dispatcher processes the request, it will ultimately be passed off to the servlet container.
028 */
029@UsesOrderedConfiguration(Dispatcher.class)
030public interface Dispatcher
031{
032    /**
033     * Analyzes the incoming request and performs an appropriate operation for each.
034     *
035     * @return true if a response was delivered, false if the dispatcher did not handle the request (and a search for a
036     *         handler should continue)
037     */
038    boolean dispatch(Request request, Response response) throws IOException;
039}