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 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

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 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

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 * accompanied this code).

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package javax.naming.ldap;

/**

  * This interface represents an LDAPv3 control as defined in

  * <A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt">RFC 2251</A>.

  *<p>

  * The LDAPv3 protocol uses controls to send and receive additional data

  * to affect the behavior of predefined operations.

  * Controls can be sent along with any LDAP operation to the server.

  * These are referred to as <em>request controls</em>. For example, a

  * "sort" control can be sent with an LDAP search operation to

  * request that the results be returned in a particular order.

  * Solicited and unsolicited controls can also be returned with

  * responses from the server. Such controls are referred to as

  * <em>response controls</em>. For example, an LDAP server might

  * define a special control to return change notifications.

  *<p>

  * This interface is used to represent both request and response controls.

  *

  * @author Rosanna Lee

  * @author Scott Seligman

  * @author Vincent Ryan

  *

  * @see ControlFactory

  * @since 1.3

  */

public interface Control extends java.io.Serializable {

    /**

      * Indicates a critical control.

      * The value of this constant is <tt>true</tt>.

      */

    public static final boolean CRITICAL = true;

    /**

      * Indicates a non-critical control.

      * The value of this constant is <tt>false</tt>.

      */

    public static final boolean NONCRITICAL = false;

    /**

      * Retrieves the object identifier assigned for the LDAP control.

      *

      * @return The non-null object identifier string.

      */

    public String getID();

    /**

      * Determines the criticality of the LDAP control.

      * A critical control must not be ignored by the server.

      * In other words, if the server receives a critical control

      * that it does not support, regardless of whether the control

      * makes sense for the operation, the operation will not be performed

      * and an <tt>OperationNotSupportedException</tt> will be thrown.

      * @return true if this control is critical; false otherwise.

      */

    public boolean isCritical();

    /**

      * Retrieves the ASN.1 BER encoded value of the LDAP control.

      * The result is the raw BER bytes including the tag and length of

      * the control's value. It does not include the controls OID or criticality.

      *

      * Null is returned if the value is absent.

      *

      * @return A possibly null byte array representing the ASN.1 BER encoded

      *         value of the LDAP control.

      */

    public byte[] getEncodedValue();

    // static final long serialVersionUID = -591027748900004825L;

}