/*

 * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,

 * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or

 * have any questions.

 */

package com.sun.mirror.apt;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.util.Collection;

/**

 * An annotation processor, used to examine and process the

 * annotations of program elements.  An annotation processor may,

 * for example, create new source files and XML documents to be used

 * in conjunction with the original code.

 *

 * <p> An annotation processor is constructed by a

 * {@linkplain AnnotationProcessorFactory factory}, which provides it with an

 * {@linkplain AnnotationProcessorEnvironment environment} that

 * encapsulates the state it needs.

 * Messages regarding warnings and errors encountered during processing

 * should be directed to the environment's {@link Messager},

 * and new files may be created using the environment's {@link Filer}.

 *

 * <p> Each annotation processor is created to process annotations

 * of a particular annotation type or set of annotation types.

 * It may use its environment to find the program elements with

 * annotations of those types.  It may freely examine any other program

 * elements in the course of its processing.

 *

 * @author Joseph D. Darcy

 * @author Scott Seligman

 * @since 1.5

 */

public interface AnnotationProcessor {

    /**

     * Process all program elements supported by this annotation processor.

     */

    void process();

}