1 /*
2 * Copyright (c) 1999, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
3 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
4 *
5 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
6 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
7 * published by the Free Software Foundation. Oracle designates this
8 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
9 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
10 *
11 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
12 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
13 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
14 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
15 * accompanied this code).
16 *
17 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
18 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
19 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
20 *
21 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
22 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
23 * questions.
24 */
25
26 package javax.naming.ldap;
27
28 /**
29 * This interface represents an LDAPv3 control as defined in
30 * <A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt">RFC 2251</A>.
31 *<p>
32 * The LDAPv3 protocol uses controls to send and receive additional data
33 * to affect the behavior of predefined operations.
34 * Controls can be sent along with any LDAP operation to the server.
35 * These are referred to as <em>request controls</em>. For example, a
36 * "sort" control can be sent with an LDAP search operation to
37 * request that the results be returned in a particular order.
38 * Solicited and unsolicited controls can also be returned with
39 * responses from the server. Such controls are referred to as
40 * <em>response controls</em>. For example, an LDAP server might
41 * define a special control to return change notifications.
42 *<p>
43 * This interface is used to represent both request and response controls.
44 *
45 * @author Rosanna Lee
46 * @author Scott Seligman
47 * @author Vincent Ryan
48 *
49 * @see ControlFactory
50 * @since 1.3
51 */
52 public interface Control extends java.io.Serializable {
53 /**
54 * Indicates a critical control.
55 * The value of this constant is <tt>true</tt>.
56 */
57 public static final boolean CRITICAL = true;
58
59 /**
60 * Indicates a non-critical control.
61 * The value of this constant is <tt>false</tt>.
62 */
63 public static final boolean NONCRITICAL = false;
64
65 /**
66 * Retrieves the object identifier assigned for the LDAP control.
67 *
68 * @return The non-null object identifier string.
69 */
70 public String getID();
71
72 /**
73 * Determines the criticality of the LDAP control.
74 * A critical control must not be ignored by the server.
75 * In other words, if the server receives a critical control
76 * that it does not support, regardless of whether the control
77 * makes sense for the operation, the operation will not be performed
78 * and an <tt>OperationNotSupportedException</tt> will be thrown.
79 * @return true if this control is critical; false otherwise.
80 */
81 public boolean isCritical();
82
83 /**
84 * Retrieves the ASN.1 BER encoded value of the LDAP control.
85 * The result is the raw BER bytes including the tag and length of
86 * the control's value. It does not include the controls OID or criticality.
87 *
88 * Null is returned if the value is absent.
89 *
90 * @return A possibly null byte array representing the ASN.1 BER encoded
91 * value of the LDAP control.
92 */
93 public byte[] getEncodedValue();
94
95 // static final long serialVersionUID = -591027748900004825L;
96 }