001    // Copyright 2005 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    /**
018     * Used to search for a class within a list of packages. Available as service tapestry.ClassFinder.
019     * 
020     * @author Howard Lewis Ship
021     * @since 4.0
022     */
023    public interface ClassFinder
024    {
025        /**
026         * Searches for a class within a list of packages, which always includes the default package.
027         * 
028         * @param packageList
029         *            a comma seperated list of package names (i.e., "java.lang,java.util")
030         * @param className
031         *            the name of the class to search for. This may be just a class name, or even a
032         *            partial class name (i.e., "impl.Foo").
033         * @return the class, if found, or null if no class could be found in any of the packages
034         */
035    
036        Class findClass(String packageList, String className);
037    }