/**
* Fortika - Robust Group Communication
* Copyright (C) 2002-2006 Sergio Mena de la Cruz (EPFL) (sergio.mena@epfl.ch)
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
* Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
*/
/*
* Created on Feb 20, 2004
*
* To change the template for this generated file go to
* Window>Preferences>Java>Code Generation>Code and Comments
*/
package framework.libraries;
import uka.transport.Transportable;
/**
* @author mena
*
* This class defines the standard interface for marshilling libraries. A protocol
* includes a parameter of this type in its constructor if it needs marshalling facilities
* from the framework.
*
* This allows to choose the marshalling implementation without having to change all
* <i>common code</i> protocols.
*/
public interface Serialize {
/**
* Marshalls the Object passed as parameter and returns the resulting byte array
*
* @param m The object to marshall (e.g. a <i>GroupCommMessage</i>)
* @return The marshalled object in a byte array
* @throws IOException
*/
public byte[] marshall(Transportable m);
/**
* Unmarshalls and returns the Object previously marshalled in the byte array
* passed as parameter.
*
* @param m The byte array containing the marshalled object
* @return The unmarshalled object (e.g. a <i>GroupCommMessage</i>)
* @throws IOException
*/
public Transportable unmarshall(byte[] b);
}