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1   /*
2    * Copyright [2006] [University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, Inc.]
3    *
4    * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
5    * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
6    * You may obtain a copy of the License at
7    *
8    * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
9    *
10   * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13   * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14   * limitations under the License.
15   */
16  
17  package edu.internet2.middleware.shibboleth.common.attribute.encoding;
18  
19  import edu.internet2.middleware.shibboleth.common.attribute.BaseAttribute;
20  
21  
22  /**
23   * Attribute encoders convert {@link BaseAttribute}s into protocol specific representations.
24   * 
25   * Encoders may have contain a category that can be used to distingush encoder types from
26   * each other.  This inteded to be used to look up an encoder that can be used to encode 
27   * attributes in accordance with a defined specification or tranmission protcol.
28   * 
29   * Encoders MUST be thread-safe and stateless.
30   * 
31   * @param <EncodedType> the type of object created by encoding the attribute
32   */
33  public interface AttributeEncoder<EncodedType> {
34      
35      /**
36       * Get the name of the attribute.
37       * 
38       * @return name of the attribute
39       */
40      public String getAttributeName();
41      
42      /**
43       * Sets the name of the attribute.
44       * 
45       * @param attributeName name of the attribute
46       */
47      public void setAttributeName(String attributeName);
48      
49      /**
50       * Enocdes the attribute into a protocol specific representations.
51       * 
52       * @param attribute the attribute to encode
53       * 
54       * @return the Object the attribute was encoded into
55       * 
56       * @throws AttributeEncodingException if unable to successfully encode attribute
57       */
58      public EncodedType encode(BaseAttribute attribute) throws AttributeEncodingException;
59  }