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     */
020    
021    package org.apache.directory.shared.asn1.codec;
022    
023    
024    /**
025     * Defines common decoding methods for byte array decoders.
026     * 
027     * @author <a href="mailto:dev@directory.apache.org">Apache Directory Project</a>
028     * @version $Id: BinaryDecoder.java 437004 2006-08-25 22:53:17Z elecharny $
029     */
030    public interface BinaryDecoder extends Decoder
031    {
032    
033        /**
034         * Decodes a byte array and returns the results as a byte array.
035         * 
036         * @param pArray
037         *            A byte array which has been encoded with the appropriate
038         *            encoder
039         * @return a byte array that contains decoded content
040         * @throws org.apache.directory.shared.asn1.codec.DecoderException
041         *             A decoder exception is thrown if a Decoder encounters a
042         *             failure condition during the decode process.
043         */
044        byte[] decode( byte[] pArray ) throws DecoderException;
045    }