/*
Wotonomy: OpenStep design patterns for pure Java applications.
Copyright (C) 2000 Intersect Software Corporation

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library 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
Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this library; if not, see http://www.gnu.org
*/

package net.wotonomy.foundation.xml;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.URL;

/**
 * Defines an interface for classes that can de-serialize java objects from an
 * XML representation.
 */
public interface XMLDecoder {
	/**
	 * Decodes an object from the specified input stream.
	 * 
	 * @param anInputStream The input stream from which to read. The stream will be
	 *                      read fully.
	 * @param aDescription  A description to accompany error messages for the
	 *                      stream, typically a file name.
	 * @param aURL          A URL against which relative references within the XML
	 *                      will be resolved.
	 * @return The object that was constructed from the XML content, or null if no
	 *         object could be constructed.
	 */
	public Object decode(InputStream anInputStream, String aDescription, URL aURL);
}

/*
 * $Log$ Revision 1.1 2006/02/18 22:21:10 cgruber Add in simple xml interfaces
 * from net.wotonomy.xml project. Add cobertura.ser to .cvsignore. God I wish
 * sourceforge would move on this subversion thing...
 *
 * Revision 1.1 2006/02/16 13:22:22 cgruber Check in all sources in
 * eclipse-friendly maven-enabled packages.
 *
 * Revision 1.2 2001/02/06 14:34:23 mpowers Forgot to rename the package
 * declarations.
 *
 * Revision 1.1 2001/02/06 14:31:19 mpowers Moving XML utilities from util to
 * xml package.
 *
 * Revision 1.1.1.1 2000/12/21 15:52:33 mpowers Contributing wotonomy.
 *
 * Revision 1.2 2000/12/20 16:25:48 michael Added log to all files.
 *
 *
 */