/*
 * Copyright 2005 The Apache Software Foundation.
 *
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 *
 */
/*
 * Copyright 2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 */
/*
 * $Id$
 */
package javax.xml.crypto;

import java.security.spec.AlgorithmParameterSpec;

/**
 * An abstract representation of an algorithm defined in the XML Security 
 * specifications. Subclasses represent specific types of XML security
 * algorithms, such as a {@link javax.xml.crypto.dsig.Transform}.
 *
 * @author Sean Mullan
 * @author JSR 105 Expert Group
 */ 
public interface AlgorithmMethod {

    /**
     * Returns the algorithm URI of this <code>AlgorithmMethod</code>.
     *
     * @return the algorithm URI of this <code>AlgorithmMethod</code>
     */
    String getAlgorithm();

    /**
     * Returns the algorithm parameters of this <code>AlgorithmMethod</code>.
     *
     * @return the algorithm parameters of this <code>AlgorithmMethod</code>.
     *    Returns <code>null</code> if this <code>AlgorithmMethod</code> does
     *    not require parameters and they are not specified.
     */
    AlgorithmParameterSpec getParameterSpec();
}