/*
 * Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 */

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<Source></code>,
 *  <code>Provider<SOAPMessage></code> and
 *  <code>Provider<DataSource></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 null if
              there is no response.
   *  @throws WebServiceException if there is an error processing request.
   *          The cause of the WebServiceException may be set to a subclass
   *          of ProtocolException 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);
}