/*
 * CDDL HEADER START
 *
 * The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
 * Common Development and Distribution License, Version 1.0 only
 * (the "License").  You may not use this file except in compliance
 * with the License.
 *
 * You can obtain a copy of the license at legal-notices/CDDLv1_0.txt
 * or http://forgerock.org/license/CDDLv1.0.html.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions
 * and limitations under the License.
 *
 * When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
 * file and include the License file at legal-notices/CDDLv1_0.txt.
 * If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the
 * fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying
 * information:
 *      Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
 *
 * CDDL HEADER END
 *
 *
 *      Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 *      Portions copyright 2012 ForgeRock AS.
 */

package org.forgerock.opendj.ldif;

import java.io.Closeable;
import java.io.Flushable;
import java.io.IOException;

import org.forgerock.opendj.ldap.Entry;

/**
 * An interface for writing entries to a data source, typically an LDIF file.
 */
public interface EntryWriter extends Closeable, Flushable {
    /**
     * Closes this entry writer, flushing it first. Closing a previously closed
     * entry writer has no effect.
     *
     * @throws IOException
     *             If an unexpected IO error occurred while closing.
     */
    void close() throws IOException;

    /**
     * Flushes this entry writer so that any buffered data is written
     * immediately to underlying stream, flushing the stream if it is also
     * {@code Flushable}.
     * <p>
     * If the intended destination of this stream is an abstraction provided by
     * the underlying operating system, for example a file, then flushing the
     * stream guarantees only that bytes previously written to the stream are
     * passed to the operating system for writing; it does not guarantee that
     * they are actually written to a physical device such as a disk drive.
     *
     * @throws IOException
     *             If an unexpected IO error occurred while flushing.
     */
    void flush() throws IOException;

    /**
     * Writes a comment.
     *
     * @param comment
     *            The {@code CharSequence} to be written as a comment.
     * @return A reference to this entry writer.
     * @throws IOException
     *             If an unexpected IO error occurred while writing the comment.
     * @throws NullPointerException
     *             If {@code comment} was {@code null}.
     */
    EntryWriter writeComment(CharSequence comment) throws IOException;

    /**
     * Writes an entry.
     *
     * @param entry
     *            The {@code Entry} to be written.
     * @return A reference to this entry writer.
     * @throws IOException
     *             If an unexpected IO error occurred while writing the entry.
     * @throws NullPointerException
     *             If {@code entry} was {@code null}.
     */
    EntryWriter writeEntry(Entry entry) throws IOException;

}