001/**
002 * ===================================================
003 * JCommon-Serializer : a free serialization framework
004 * ===================================================
005 *
006 * Project Info:  http://reporting.pentaho.org/jcommon-serializer/
007 *
008 * (C) Copyright 2006-2008, by Object Refinery Limited, Pentaho Corporation and Contributors.
009 *
010 * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms
011 * of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
012 * either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
013 *
014 * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
015 * without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
016 * See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
017 *
018 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this
019 * library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
020 * Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
021 *
022 * [Java is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
023 * in the United States and other countries.]
024 *
025 * ------------
026 * SerializeMethod
027 * ------------
028 */
029
030package org.jfree.serializer;
031
032import java.io.IOException;
033import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
034import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
035
036/**
037 * The SerializeMethod is used to define a serialization strategy for a certain object
038 * type.
039 *
040 * @author Thomas Morgner
041 */
042public interface SerializeMethod
043{
044  /**
045   * Writes a serializable object description to the given object output stream.
046   *
047   * @param o   the to be serialized object.
048   * @param out the outputstream that should receive the object.
049   * @throws IOException if an I/O error occured.
050   */
051  public void writeObject (Object o, ObjectOutputStream out)
052          throws IOException;
053
054  /**
055   * Reads the object from the object input stream.
056   *
057   * @param in the object input stream from where to read the serialized data.
058   * @return the generated object.
059   *
060   * @throws IOException            if reading the stream failed.
061   * @throws ClassNotFoundException if serialized object class cannot be found.
062   */
063  public Object readObject (ObjectInputStream in)
064          throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;
065
066  /**
067   * The class of the object, which this object can serialize.
068   *
069   * @return the class of the object type, which this method handles.
070   */
071  public Class getObjectClass ();
072}