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 encoding methods for byte array encoders.
026     * 
027     * @author <a href="mailto:dev@directory.apache.org">Apache Directory Project</a>
028     * @version $Id: BinaryEncoder.java 437004 2006-08-25 22:53:17Z elecharny $
029     */
030    public interface BinaryEncoder extends Encoder
031    {
032    
033        /**
034         * Encodes a byte array and return the encoded data as a byte array.
035         * 
036         * @param pArray
037         *            Data to be encoded
038         * @return A byte array containing the encoded data
039         * @throws EncoderException
040         *             thrown if the Encoder encounters a failure condition during
041         *             the encoding process.
042         */
043        byte[] encode( byte[] pArray ) throws EncoderException;
044    }