001/*
002 *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
003 *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
004 *  distributed with this work for additional information
005 *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
006 *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
007 *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
008 *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
009 *  
010 *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
011 *  
012 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
013 *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
014 *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
015 *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
016 *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
017 *  under the License. 
018 *  
019 */
020package org.apache.directory.api.ldap.codec.api;
021
022
023import org.apache.directory.api.asn1.Asn1Object;
024import org.apache.directory.api.asn1.DecoderException;
025import org.apache.directory.api.ldap.model.message.Control;
026
027
028/**
029 * The codec uses this interface to add additional information to LDAP Model
030 * Control objects during encoding and decoding.
031 *
032 * @param <E> The control being handled by this codec
033 * 
034 * @author <a href="mailto:dev@directory.apache.org">Apache Directory Project</a>
035 */
036public interface CodecControl<E extends Control> extends Control, Decorator<E>
037{
038    /**
039     * Decodes raw ASN.1 encoded bytes into an Asn1Object for the control.
040     * 
041     * @param controlBytes the encoded control bytes
042     * @return the decoded Asn1Object for the control
043     * @throws DecoderException if anything goes wrong
044     */
045    Asn1Object decode( byte[] controlBytes ) throws DecoderException;
046
047
048    /**
049     * Checks to see if a value is set for this {@link CodecControl}.
050     *
051     * @return true, if this control has a value, false otherwise
052     */
053    boolean hasValue();
054
055
056    /**
057     * Gets the binary ASN.1 BER encoded representation of the control.
058     * 
059     * @return The control's encoded value
060     */
061    byte[] getValue();
062
063
064    /**
065     * Set the Control's encoded control value.
066     * 
067     * @param value The encoded control value to store.
068     */
069    void setValue( byte[] value );
070}