[CONFIGURATION-551] Make data type conversions extensible

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 1.9
• Fix Version/s: 2.0
• Component/s: Type conversion
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Oliver Heger
• Created: 06/Aug/13 19:39
• Updated: 24/Mar/16 20:20
• Resolved: 24/Aug/13 20:05

Description

So far, a fix set of data type conversions is supported. Some are available directly in the Configuration interface (especially for primitive and standard Java types), others are provided by DataConfiguration. Currently, it is not easy possible for client applications to customize type conversions or add new converters.

I am not sure whether we should go so far to implement yet another framework with type converters; at least not directly for version 2.0. However, there should be at least possibilities to hook into the conversion mechanism. Ideally, I would like to have a simple facade handling the different kinds of conversions. By providing alternative implementations, client applications should be able to adapt type conversions or even plug in a different conversion framework, e.g. Commons Beanutils.