## org.apache.ivy.plugins.version
Interface VersionMatcher

All Known Implementing Classes:
  AbstractVersionMatcher, ChainVersionMatcher, ExactVersionMatcher, LatestVersionMatcher, PatternVersionMatcher, SubVersionMatcher, VersionRangeMatcher

    public interface VersionMatcher

This interface defines a version matcher, i.e. a class able to tell if the revision asked by a module for a dependency is dynamic (i.e. need to find all revisions to find the good one among them) and if a found revision matches the asked one.

Two ways of matching are possible:

- based on the module revision only (known as ModuleRevisionId)
- based on the parsed module descriptor

The second being much more time consuming than the first, the version matcher should tell if it needs such parsing or not using the `needModuleDescriptor(ModuleRevisionId, ModuleRevisionId)` method. Anyway, the first way is always used, and if a revision is not accepted using the first method, the module descriptor won't be parsed. Therefore if a version matcher uses only module descriptors to accept a revision or not it should always return true to `needModuleDescriptor(ModuleRevisionId, ModuleRevisionId)` and `accept(ModuleRevisionId, ModuleDescriptor)`.

Method Summary
`boolean` `accept(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid, ModuleDescriptor foundMD)` Indicates if this version matcher considers that the module found matches the asked one.
`boolean` `accept(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid, ModuleRevisionId foundMrid)` Indicates if this version matcher considers that the module revision found matches the asked one.
`int` `compare(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid, ModuleRevisionId foundMrid, java.util.Comparator staticComparator)` Compares a dynamic revision (askedMrid) with a static one (foundMrid) to indicate which one should be considered the greater.
`java.lang.String` `getName()` Returns the version matcher name identifying this version matcher
`boolean` `isDynamic(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid)` Indicates if the given asked ModuleRevisionId should be considered as dynamic for the current VersionMatcher or not.
`boolean` `needModuleDescriptor(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid, ModuleRevisionId foundMrid)` Indicates if this VersionMatcher needs module descriptors to determine if a module revision matches the asked one.

Method Detail

### isDynamic

    boolean isDynamic(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid)

  Indicates if the given asked ModuleRevisionId should be considered as dynamic for the current VersionMatcher or not.

  Parameters:
    `askedMrid` - the dependency module revision id as asked by a module
  Returns:
    true if this revision is considered as a dynamic one, false otherwise

### accept

    boolean accept(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid,
                   ModuleRevisionId foundMrid)

  Indicates if this version matcher considers that the module revision found matches the asked one.

  Parameters:
    `askedMrid` -
    `foundMrid` -
  Returns:

### needModuleDescriptor

    boolean needModuleDescriptor(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid,
                                 ModuleRevisionId foundMrid)

  Indicates if this VersionMatcher needs module descriptors to determine if a module revision matches the asked one. Note that returning true in this method may imply big performance issues.

  Returns:

### accept

    boolean accept(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid,
                   ModuleDescriptor foundMD)

  Indicates if this version matcher considers that the module found matches the asked one. This method can be called even needModuleDescriptor(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid, ModuleRevisionId foundMrid) returns false, so it is required to implement it in any case, a usual default implementation being: return accept(askedMrid, foundMD.getResolvedModuleRevisionId());

  Parameters:
    `askedMrid` -
    `foundMD` -
  Returns:

### compare

    int compare(ModuleRevisionId askedMrid,
                ModuleRevisionId foundMrid,
                java.util.Comparator staticComparator)

  Compares a dynamic revision (askedMrid) with a static one (foundMrid) to indicate which one should be considered the greater. If there is not enough information to know which one is the greater, the dynamic one should be considered greater and this method should return 0. This method should never be called with a askdeMrid for which isDynamic returns false.

  Parameters:
    `askedMrid` - the dynamic revision to compare
    `foundMrid` - the static revision to compare
    `staticComparator` - a comparator which can be used to compare static revisions
  Returns:
    0 if it's not possible to know which one is greater, greater than 0 if askedMrid should be considered greater, lower than 0 if it can't be consider greater

### getName

    java.lang.String getName()

  Returns the version matcher name identifying this version matcher

  Returns:
    the version matcher name identifying this version matcher