/*

 * Copyright 2005-2006 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 javax.xml.ws;

/**

 *  <p>Service endpoints may implement the <code>Provider</code>

 *  interface as a dynamic alternative to an SEI.

 *

 *  <p>Implementations are required to support <code>Provider&lt;Source&gt;</code>,

 *  <code>Provider&lt;SOAPMessage&gt;</code> and

 *  <code>Provider&lt;DataSource&gt;</code>, depending on the binding

 *  in use and the service mode.

 *

 *  <p>The <code>ServiceMode</code> annotation can be used to control whether

 *  the <code>Provider</code> instance will receive entire protocol messages

 *  or just message payloads.

 *

 *  @since JAX-WS 2.0

 *

 *  @see javax.xml.transform.Source

 *  @see javax.xml.soap.SOAPMessage

 *  @see javax.xml.ws.ServiceMode

**/

public interface Provider<T> {

  /** Invokes an operation occording to the contents of the request

   *  message.

   *

   *  @param  request The request message or message payload.

   *  @return The response message or message payload. May be <code>null</code> if

              there is no response.

   *  @throws WebServiceException If there is an error processing request.

   *          The cause of the <code>WebServiceException</code> may be set to a subclass

   *          of <code>ProtocolException</code> to control the protocol level

   *          representation of the exception.

   *  @see javax.xml.ws.handler.MessageContext

   *  @see javax.xml.ws.ProtocolException

  **/

  public T invoke(T request);

}