001    /*
002     * Copyright 2006 Stephen J. McConnell.
003     *
004     * Licensed  under the  Apache License,  Version 2.0  (the "License");
005     * you may not use  this file  except in  compliance with the License.
006     * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007     *
008     *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009     *
010     * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011     * distributed  under the  License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012     * WITHOUT  WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS  OF ANY KIND, either  express  or
013     * implied.
014     *
015     * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
016     * limitations under the License.
017     */
018    
019    package net.dpml.util;
020    
021    import java.io.Writer;
022    import java.io.IOException;
023    
024    /**
025     * Interface implemented by generic encoders.
026     */
027    public interface Encoder
028    {
029       /**
030        * Externalize a object to XML.
031        * @param writer the output stream writer
032        * @param object the object to externalize
033        * @param pad the character offset
034        * @exception IOException if an IO error occurs
035        */
036        public void encode( Writer writer, Object object, String pad ) throws IOException;
037    }