sascha@41: package de.intevation.artifacts;
sascha@41: 
sascha@41: /**
sascha@41:  * Interface to make artifact persistent.
sascha@41:  *
sascha@77:  * @author <a href="mailto:sascha.teichmann@intevation.de">Sascha L. Teichmann</a>
sascha@41:  */
sascha@41: public interface ArtifactSerializer
sascha@41: {
sascha@78:     /**
sascha@78:      * Restores an artifact from an array of bytes.
sascha@78:      * @param bytes the persistent representation of the artifact.
sascha@78:      * @return The de-serialized artifact or null if there was an error.
sascha@78:      */
sascha@41:     Artifact fromBytes(byte [] bytes);
sascha@78:     /**
sascha@78:      * Brings an artifact to a persistent form in form of a byte array.
sascha@78:      * @param artifact The artifact to be serialized.
sascha@78:      * @return the byte array representation of the artifact or null
sascha@78:      * if there was an error.
sascha@78:      */
sascha@41:     byte []  toBytes(Artifact artifact);
sascha@41: }
sascha@41: // vim:set ts=4 sw=4 si et sta sts=4 fenc=utf8: