NodeFactory

All Superinterfaces:

java.io.Serializable

All Known Implementing Classes:

DefaultByteArrayNodeFactory, DefaultCharArrayNodeFactory, DefaultCharSequenceNodeFactory, SmartArrayBasedNodeFactory
```
public interface NodeFactory
extends java.io.Serializable
```
An interface for a factory which creates new Node objects on demand, to encapsulate specified variables. Factory objects can choose to return implementations of the Node interface which are memory-optimized for storing only the given variables, potentially further optimized based on variable values.

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods
Modifier and Type	Method	Description
`Node`	`createNode(java.lang.CharSequence edgeCharacters, java.lang.Object value, java.util.List<Node> childNodes, boolean isRoot)`	Returns a new `Node` object which encapsulates the arguments supplied, optionally returning implementations of the `Node` interface which are memory-optimized for storing only the supplied combination of variables, potentially further optimized based on variable values.

- Method Detail
  - createNode
```
Node createNode(java.lang.CharSequence edgeCharacters,
                java.lang.Object value,
                java.util.List<Node> childNodes,
                boolean isRoot)
```
    Returns a new Node object which encapsulates the arguments supplied, optionally returning implementations of the Node interface which are memory-optimized for storing only the supplied combination of variables, potentially further optimized based on variable values.
    
    Parameters:
    
    edgeCharacters - Provides edge characters to be stored in the node. This is never null. In the case of (re-)constructing the root node, this will contain zero characters, otherwise will always contain one or more characters
    
    value - An arbitrary object to associate with the node. This can be null, but it will not be null if dealing with a leaf node (when childNodes will be empty)
    
    childNodes - A list of child nodes to store in the node. This will never be null, but may be empty when building a leaf node
    
    isRoot - Indicates if this will be the root node, in which case edge characters will be non-null but empty, value will be null, and child nodes will be non-null but may be empty
    
    Returns:
    
    An object implementing the Node interface which stores the given variables