org.apache.commons.codec
Interface Decoder

All Known Subinterfaces:
BinaryDecoder, StringDecoder
All Known Implementing Classes:
Base32, Base64, BaseNCodec, BCodec, BinaryCodec, Hex, QCodec, QuotedPrintableCodec, URLCodec

public interface Decoder

Provides the highest level of abstraction for Decoders. This is the sister interface of Encoder. All Decoders implement this common generic interface.

Allows a user to pass a generic Object to any Decoder implementation in the codec package.

One of the two interfaces at the center of the codec package.

Version:
$Id: Decoder.java 1157192 2011-08-12 17:27:38Z ggregory $
Author:
Apache Software Foundation

Method Summary
 java.lang.Object decode(java.lang.Object source)
          Decodes an "encoded" Object and returns a "decoded" Object.
 

Method Detail

decode

java.lang.Object decode(java.lang.Object source)
                        throws DecoderException
Decodes an "encoded" Object and returns a "decoded" Object. Note that the implementation of this interface will try to cast the Object parameter to the specific type expected by a particular Decoder implementation. If a ClassCastException occurs this decode method will throw a DecoderException.

Parameters:
source - the object to decode
Returns:
a 'decoded" object
Throws:
DecoderException - a decoder exception can be thrown for any number of reasons. Some good candidates are that the parameter passed to this method is null, a param cannot be cast to the appropriate type for a specific encoder.


commons-codec version 1.6-SNAPSHOT - Copyright © 2002-2012 - Apache Software Foundation