/*

  * 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

  *

  *      http://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.apache.commons.classscan.spi;

 import java.io.IOException;

 import java.net.URL;

 import java.util.ServiceLoader;

 import org.apache.commons.classscan.MetaRegistry;

 import org.apache.commons.classscan.spi.model.SpiClassPathElement;

 /**

  * Provider to create a ClassPathElement for a URL.  Provider instances should

  * be registered using the {@link ServiceLoader} facility.  Each provider class

  * should have a public default constructor.  A single instance of each provider

  * class will be instantiated.

  */

 public interface ClassPathElementFactory {

         /**

          * Create a ClassPathElement for a URL

          * 

          * @param metaRegistry The registry 

          * @param url The url that is the base location of class files

          * @return null, if the URL scheme cannot be supported; otherwise a ClassPathElement for the URL

          */

         SpiClassPathElement getClassPathElement(MetaRegistry metaRegistry, URL url) throws IOException;

 }