/*
 * Copyright (c) OSGi Alliance (2016). All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * 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.osgi.util.converter;

import java.lang.reflect.Type;

import org.osgi.annotation.versioning.ProviderType;

/**
 * This interface is used to specify the target that an object should be
 * converted to. A {@link Converting} instance can be obtained via the
 * {@link Converter} service by starting a conversion for a specific object.
 *
 * @author $Id$
 * @NotThreadSafe
 */
@ProviderType
public interface Converting {
	/**
	 * Always return a fully populated copy of the object, however if the object
	 * is an immutable built-in scalar such as String or Long, then a copy is
	 * not needed. By default a wrapped object is returned by the converter if
	 * possible.
	 *
	 * @return The current {@code Converting} object so that additional calls
	 *         can be chained.
	 */
	Converting copy();

	/**
	 * The default value to use when the object cannot be converted or in case
	 * of conversion from a {@code null} value.
	 *
	 * @param defVal The default value.
	 * @return The current {@code Converting} object so that additional calls
	 *         can be chained.
	 */
	Converting defaultValue(Object defVal);

	/**
	 * Treat the source object as the specified class. This can be used to
	 * disambiguate a type if it implements multiple interfaces or extends
	 * multiple classes.
	 * 
	 * @param cls The class to treat the object as.
	 * @return The current {@code Converting} object so that additional calls
	 *         can be chained.
	 */
	Converting sourceAs(Class< ? > cls);

	/**
	 * Treat the source object as a JavaBean. By default objects will not be
	 * treated as JavaBeans, this has to be specified using this method.
	 * 
	 * @return The current {@code Converting} object so that additional calls
	 *         can be chained.
	 */
	Converting sourceAsBean();

	/**
	 * Treat the target object as the specified class. This can be used to
	 * disambiguate a type if it implements multiple interfaces or extends
	 * multiple classes.
	 * 
	 * @param cls The class to treat the object as.
	 * @return The current {@code Converting} object so that additional calls
	 *         can be chained.
	 */
	Converting targetAs(Class< ? > cls);

	/**
	 * Treat the target object as a JavaBean. By default objects will not be
	 * treated as JavaBeans, this has to be specified using this method.
	 * 
	 * @return The current {@code Converting} object so that additional calls
	 *         can be chained.
	 */
	Converting targetAsBean();

	/**
	 * Specify the target object type for the conversion as a class object.
	 *
	 * @param cls The class to convert to.
	 * @return The converted object.
	 */
	<T> T to(Class<T> cls);

	/**
	 * Specify the target object type as a Java Reflection Type object.
	 *
	 * @param type A Type object to represent the target type to be converted
	 *            to.
	 * @return The converted object.
	 */
	<T> T to(Type type);

	/**
	 * Specify the target object type as a {@link TypeReference}. If the target
	 * class carries generics information a TypeReference should be used as this
	 * preserves the generic information whereas a Class object has this
	 * information erased. Example use:
	 *
	 * <pre>
	 * List&lt;String&gt; result = converter.convert(Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3))
	 * 		.to(new TypeReference&lt;List&lt;String&gt;&gt;() {});
	 * </pre>
	 *
	 * @param ref A type reference to the object being converted to.
	 * @return The converted object.
	 */
	<T> T to(TypeReference<T> ref);
}

@@ -2401,32 +2401,298 @@
 ourceAsBean();%0A%0A
+%09/**%0A%09 * Treat the source object as a DTO even if the source object has methods or%0A%09 * is otherwise not recognised as a DTO.%0A%09 * %0A%09 * @return The current %7B@code Converting%7D object so that additional calls%0A%09 *         can be chained.%0A%09 */%0A%09Converting sourceAsDTO();%0A%0A
 %09/**%0A%09 * Treat t
@@ -3330,32 +3330,283 @@
 argetAsBean();%0A%0A
+%09/**%0A%09 * Treat the target object as a DTO even if it has methods or is otherwise%0A%09 * not recognized as a DTO.%0A%09 * %0A%09 * @return The current %7B@code Converting%7D object so that additional calls%0A%09 *         can be chained.%0A%09 */%0A%09Converting targetAsDTO();%0A%0A
 %09/**%0A%09 * Specify

Add sourceAsDTO and targetAsDTO to Converting API