001    /* ObjectOutput.java -- Interface for writing objects to a stream
002       Copyright (C) 1998, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
003    
004    This file is part of GNU Classpath.
005    
006    GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
007    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
008    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
009    any later version.
010     
011    GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
012    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
013    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
014    General Public License for more details.
015    
016    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
017    along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
018    Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
019    02110-1301 USA.
020    
021    Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
022    making a combined work based on this library.  Thus, the terms and
023    conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
024    combination.
025    
026    As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
027    permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
028    executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
029    modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
030    terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
031    independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
032    module.  An independent module is a module which is not derived from
033    or based on this library.  If you modify this library, you may extend
034    this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
035    obligated to do so.  If you do not wish to do so, delete this
036    exception statement from your version. */
037    
038    
039    package java.io;
040    
041    /**
042      * This interface extends <code>DataOutput</code> to provide the additional
043      * facility of writing object instances to a stream.  It also adds some
044      * additional methods to make the interface more 
045      * <code>OutputStream</code> like.
046      *
047      * @author Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com)
048      *
049      * @see DataOutput
050      */
051    public interface ObjectOutput extends DataOutput
052    {
053      /**
054        * This method writes the specified byte to the output stream.
055        *
056        * @param b The byte to write.
057        *
058        * @exception IOException If an error occurs.
059        */
060      void write(int b) throws IOException;
061    
062      /**
063        * This method writes all the bytes in the specified byte array to the
064        * output stream.
065        *
066        * @param buf The array of bytes to write.
067        * 
068        * @exception IOException If an error occurs.
069        */
070      void write(byte[] buf) throws IOException;
071    
072      /**
073        * This method writes <code>len</code> bytes from the specified array
074        * starting at index <code>offset</code> into that array.
075        *
076        * @param buf The byte array to write from.
077        * @param offset The index into the byte array to start writing from.
078        * @param len The number of bytes to write.
079        *
080        * @exception IOException If an error occurs.
081        */
082      void write(byte[] buf, int offset, int len) 
083        throws IOException;
084    
085      /**
086        * This method writes a object instance to a stream.  The format of the
087        * data written is determined by the actual implementation of this method
088        *
089        * @param obj The object to write
090        *
091        * @exception IOException If an error occurs
092        */
093      void writeObject(Object obj) throws IOException;
094    
095      /**
096        * This method causes any buffered data to be flushed out to the underlying
097        * stream
098        *
099        * @exception IOException If an error occurs
100        */
101      void flush() throws IOException;
102    
103      /**
104        * This method closes the underlying stream.
105        *
106        * @exception IOException If an error occurs
107        */
108      void close() throws IOException;
109    
110    } // interface ObjectOutput
111