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// *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0                                                                             *
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package org.apache.juneau;

import java.io.*;

import org.apache.juneau.http.*;

/**
 * Interface that identifies that an object can be serialized directly to a writer.
 *
 * <p>
 * Instances must identify the media type of the content by implementing the {@link #getMediaType()} method.
 */
public interface Writable {

	/**
	 * Serialize this object to the specified writer.
	 *
	 * @param w The writer to write to.
	 * @return The same writer passed in.
	 * @throws IOException Thrown by underlying stream.
	 */
	Writer writeTo(Writer w) throws IOException;

	/**
	 * Returns the serialized media type for this resource (e.g. <js>"text/html"</js>)
	 *
	 * @return The media type, or <jk>null</jk> if the media type is not known.
	 */
	MediaType getMediaType();
}