Serializer.java

package serializers;

import java.io.*;

public abstract class Serializer<S>
{
    /**
     * Buffer size for serializers.  Defaults to 1024 and can be changed 
     * via system properties.  Minimum set to 256.
     */
    public static final int BUFFER_SIZE = Math.max(
            Integer.getInteger("buffer_size", 1024), 256);
    
	public abstract S deserialize(byte[] array) throws Exception;
	public abstract byte[] serialize(S content) throws Exception;
 	public abstract String getName();
    
    SerFeatures features = new SerFeatures(); // ruediger: everything misc by default.
    
	public ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream (S content) {
		return new ByteArrayOutputStream(BUFFER_SIZE);
	}

    public SerFeatures getFeatures() {
        return features;
    }

    public void setFeatures(SerFeatures features) {
        this.features = features;
    }

    // And then bit bigger default when serializing a list or array
	public ByteArrayOutputStream outputStreamForList (S[] items) {
		return new ByteArrayOutputStream(BUFFER_SIZE * items.length);
	}

 	// Multi-item interfaces
 	
 	public S[] deserializeItems(InputStream in, int numberOfItems) throws Exception {
 	    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not implemented");
 	}

 	public void serializeItems(S[] items, OutputStream out) throws Exception {
            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not implemented");
 	}

 	@SuppressWarnings("resource")
    public final byte[] serializeAsBytes(S[] items) throws Exception {
 	    ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = outputStreamForList(items);
 	    serializeItems(items, bytes);
 	    return bytes.toByteArray();
 	}

 	// // // Helper methods

 	protected byte[] readAll(InputStream in) throws IOException
 	{
 	    ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = new ByteArrayOutputStream(4000);
 	    byte[] buffer = new byte[4000];
 	    int count;

 	    while ((count = in.read(buffer)) >= 0) {
 	        bytes.write(buffer, 0, count);
 	    }
 	    in.close();
 	    return bytes.toByteArray();
 	}
}