001/*
002 * CDDL HEADER START
003 *
004 * The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
005 * Common Development and Distribution License, Version 1.0 only
006 * (the "License").  You may not use this file except in compliance
007 * with the License.
008 *
009 * You can obtain a copy of the license at legal-notices/CDDLv1_0.txt
010 * or http://forgerock.org/license/CDDLv1.0.html.
011 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions
012 * and limitations under the License.
013 *
014 * When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
015 * file and include the License file at legal-notices/CDDLv1_0.txt.
016 * If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the
017 * fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying
018 * information:
019 *      Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
020 *
021 * CDDL HEADER END
022 *
023 *
024 *      Copyright 2006-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
025 *      Portions Copyright 2015 ForgeRock AS
026 */
027package org.opends.server.api;
028
029
030
031/**
032 * This interface defines a set of methods that must be implemented by
033 * any class that forms the basis for a protocol element (e.g., an
034 * ASN.1 element, an LDAP message, etc.).
035 */
036@org.opends.server.types.PublicAPI(
037     stability=org.opends.server.types.StabilityLevel.VOLATILE,
038     mayInstantiate=false,
039     mayExtend=true,
040     mayInvoke=true)
041public interface ProtocolElement
042{
043  /**
044   * Retrieves the name of the protocol associated with this protocol
045   * element.
046   *
047   * @return  The name of the protocol associated with this protocol
048   *          element.
049   */
050  String getProtocolElementName();
051
052
053
054  /**
055   * Retrieves a string representation of this protocol element.
056   *
057   * @return  A string representation of this protocol element.
058   */
059  String toString();
060
061
062
063  /**
064   * Appends a string representation of this protocol element to the
065   * provided buffer.
066   *
067   * @param  buffer  The buffer into which the string representation
068   *                 should be written.
069   */
070  void toString(StringBuilder buffer);
071
072
073
074  /**
075   * Appends a string representation of this protocol element to the
076   * provided buffer.
077   *
078   * @param  buffer  The buffer into which the string representation
079   *                 should be written.
080   * @param  indent  The number of spaces that should be used to
081   *                 indent the resulting string representation.
082   */
083  void toString(StringBuilder buffer, int indent);
084}
085