Service provider interface
API for a third party
Service provider interface (SPI) is an API intended to be implemented or extended by a third party. It can be used to enable framework extension and replaceable components.
01Details
From Java documentation:
A service is a well-known set of interfaces and (usually abstract) classes. A service provider is a specific implementation of a service. The classes in a provider typically implement the interfaces and subclass the classes defined in the service itself. Service providers can be installed in an implementation of the Java platform in the form of extensions, that is, jar files placed into any of the usual extension directories. Providers can also be made available by adding them to the application's class path or by some other platform-specific means.
The concept can be extended to other platforms using the corresponding tools. In the Java Runtime Environment, SPIs are used in:
- Java Database Connectivity
- Java Cryptography Extension
- Java Naming and Directory Interface
- Java API for XML Processing
- Java Business Integration
- Java Sound
- Java Image I/O
- Java File Systems
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Service provider interface”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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