org.apache.commons.codec
Interface Decoder

All Known Subinterfaces:

BinaryDecoder, StringDecoder

All Known Implementing Classes:

Base64, 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 797690 2009-07-24 23:28:35Z ggregory $

Author:

Apache Software Foundation

Method Summary

Object

decode(Object pObject) Decodes an "encoded" Object and returns a "decoded" Object.

Method Detail

decode

Object decode(Object pObject)
              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:

pObject - an 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.