org.jsecurity.io
Interface Serializer

All Known Implementing Classes:

DefaultSerializer, XmlSerializer

public interface Serializer

A Serializer converts objects to raw binary data and vice versa, enabling persistent storage of objects to files, HTTP cookies, or other mechanism.

A Serializer should only do conversion, never change the data, such as encoding/decoding or encryption. These orthoganal concerns are handled elsewhere by JSecurity, for example, via CodecSupport and Ciphers.

Since:

0.9

Author:

Les Hazlewood

Method Summary

Object	deserialize(byte[] serialized) Converts the specified raw byte[] array back into an original Object form.
byte[]	serialize(Object o) Converts the specified Object into a byte[] array.

Method Detail

serialize

byte[] serialize(Object o)
                 throws SerializationException

Converts the specified Object into a byte[] array. This byte[] array must be able to be reconstructed back into the original Object form via the deserialize method.

Parameters:

o - the Object to convert into a byte[] array.

Returns:

a byte[] array representing the Object's state that can be restored later.

Throws:

SerializationException - if an error occurrs converting the Object into a byte[] array.

deserialize

Object deserialize(byte[] serialized)
                   throws SerializationException

Converts the specified raw byte[] array back into an original Object form. This byte[] array is expected to be the output of a previous serialize method call.

Parameters:

serialized - the raw data resulting from a previous serialize call.

Returns:

the Object that was previously serialized into the raw byte[] array.

Throws:

SerializationException - if an error occurrs converting the raw byte[] array back into an Object.