001/*
002 * ModeShape (http://www.modeshape.org)
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007 *
008 *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009 *
010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014 * limitations under the License.
015 */
016package org.modeshape.common.text;
017
018import org.modeshape.common.annotation.Immutable;
019
020/**
021 * Interface for components that can decode text. This is the counterpart to {@link TextEncoder}.
022 * 
023 * @see TextEncoder
024 */
025@Immutable
026public interface TextDecoder {
027
028    /**
029     * Return the decoded version of an encoded string
030     * 
031     * @param encodedText the encoded text
032     * @return the unecoded form of the text, or null if the supplied node name is also null
033     * @see TextEncoder#encode(String)
034     */
035    public String decode( String encodedText );
036
037}