ConditionalConverter (Spring Framework 3.2.1.RELEASE API)
Date: 2013-01-24

org.springframework.core.convert.converter

## Interface ConditionalConverter

- All Known Subinterfaces:
    ConditionalGenericConverter

      public interface ConditionalConverter

  Allows a `Converter`, `GenericConverter` or `ConverterFactory` to conditionally execute based on attributes of the `source` and `target` `TypeDescriptor`.

  Often used to selectively match custom conversion logic based on the presence of a field or class-level characteristic, such as an annotation or method. For example, when converting from a String field to a Date field, an implementation might return `true` if the target field has also been annotated with `@DateTimeFormat`.

  As another example, when converting from a String field to an `Account` field, an implementation might return `true` if the target Account class defines a `public static findAccount(String)` method.

  Since:
    3.2
  Author:
    Phillip Webb, Keith Donald
  See Also:
    `Converter`, `GenericConverter`, `ConverterFactory`, `ConditionalGenericConverter`

- - ### Method Summary

    Methods
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `boolean` | `matches(TypeDescriptor sourceType, TypeDescriptor targetType)` Should the conversion from `sourceType` to `targetType` currently under consideration be selected?

- - ### Method Detail

    - #### matches

          boolean matches(TypeDescriptor sourceType,
                        TypeDescriptor targetType)

      Should the conversion from `sourceType` to `targetType` currently under consideration be selected?
      Parameters:
        `sourceType` - the type descriptor of the field we are converting from
        `targetType` - the type descriptor of the field we are converting to
      Returns:
        true if conversion should be performed, false otherwise