src/org/apache/xml/serialize/Serializer.java

/*
 * The Apache Software License, Version 1.1
 *
 *
 * Copyright (c) 1999 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights 
 * reserved.
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
 * are met:
 *
 * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
 *    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 
 *
 * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
 *    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
 *    the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
 *    distribution.
 *
 * 3. The end-user documentation included with the redistribution,
 *    if any, must include the following acknowledgment:  
 *       "This product includes software developed by the
 *        Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/)."
 *    Alternately, this acknowledgment may appear in the software itself,
 *    if and wherever such third-party acknowledgments normally appear.
 *
 * 4. The names "Xerces" and "Apache Software Foundation" must
 *    not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
 *    software without prior written permission. For written 
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 *
 * 5. Products derived from this software may not be called "Apache",
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 *
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 * OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 * SUCH DAMAGE.
 * ====================================================================
 *
 * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
 * individuals on behalf of the Apache Software Foundation and was
 * originally based on software copyright (c) 1999, International
 * Business Machines, Inc., http://www.apache.org.  For more
 * information on the Apache Software Foundation, please see
 * <http://www.apache.org/>.
 */


package org.apache.xml.serialize;


import java.io.Writer;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;

import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.xml.sax.DocumentHandler;
import org.xml.sax.ContentHandler;


/**
 * Interface for a DOM serializer implementation, factory for DOM and SAX
 * serializers, and static methods for serializing DOM documents.
 * <p>
 * To serialize a document using SAX events, create a compatible serializer
 * using {@link #makeSAXSerializer} and pass it around as a {@link
 * DocumentHandler}. If an I/O error occurs while serializing, it will
 * be thrown by {@link DocumentHandler#endDocument}. The SAX serializer
 * may also be used as {@link DTDHandler}, {@link DeclHandler} and
 * {@link LexicalHandler}.
 * <p>
 * To serialize a DOM document or DOM element, create a compatible
 * serializer using {@link #makeSerializer} and call it's {@link
 * #serialize(Document)} or {@link #serialize(Element)} methods.
 * Both methods would produce a full XML document, to serizlie only
 * the portion of the document use {@link OutputFormat#setOmitXMLDeclaration}
 * and specify no document type.
 * <p>
 * The convenience method {@link #serialize(Document,Writer,OutputFormat)}
 * creates a serializer and calls {@link #serizlie(Document)} on that
 * serialized.
 * <p>
 * The {@link OutputFormat} dictates what underlying serialized is used
 * to serialize the document based on the specified method. If the output
 * format or method are missing, the default is an XML serializer with
 * UTF-8 encoding and now indentation.
 * 
 *
 * @version $Revision$ $Date$
 * @author <a href="mailto:arkin@intalio.com">Assaf Arkin</a>
 * @author <a href="mailto:Scott_Boag/CAM/Lotus@lotus.com">Scott Boag</a>
 * @see DocumentHandler
 * @see ContentHandler
 * @see OutputFormat
 * @see DOMSerializer
 */
public interface Serializer
{


    /**
     * Specifies an output stream to which the document should be
     * serialized. This method should not be called while the
     * serializer is in the process of serializing a document.
     */
    public void setOutputByteStream(OutputStream output);
    

    /**
     * Specifies a writer to which the document should be serialized.
     * This method should not be called while the serializer is in
     * the process of serializing a document.
     */
    public void setOutputCharStream( Writer output );


    /**
     * Specifies an output format for this serializer. It the
     * serializer has already been associated with an output format,
     * it will switch to the new format. This method should not be
     * called while the serializer is in the process of serializing
     * a document.
     *
     * @param format The output format to use
     */
    public void setOutputFormat( OutputFormat format );


    /**
     * Return a {@link DocumentHandler} interface into this serializer.
     * If the serializer does not support the {@link DocumentHandler}
     * interface, it should return null.
     */
    public DocumentHandler asDocumentHandler()
        throws IOException;


    /**
     * Return a {@link ContentHandler} interface into this serializer.
     * If the serializer does not support the {@link ContentHandler}
     * interface, it should return null.
     */
    public ContentHandler asContentHandler()
        throws IOException;


    /**
     * Return a {@link DOMSerializer} interface into this serializer.
     * If the serializer does not support the {@link DOMSerializer}
     * interface, it should return null.
     */
    public DOMSerializer asDOMSerializer()
        throws IOException;


}