Logback: the reliable, generic, fast and flexible logging framework.
Copyright (C) 1999-2015, QOS.ch. All rights reserved.
This program and the accompanying materials are dual-licensed under
either the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 as published by
the Eclipse Foundation
  or (per the licensee's choosing)
under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1
as published by the Free Software Foundation.
/**
 * Logback: the reliable, generic, fast and flexible logging framework.
 * Copyright (C) 1999-2015, QOS.ch. All rights reserved.
 *
 * This program and the accompanying materials are dual-licensed under
 * either the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 as published by
 * the Eclipse Foundation
 *
 *   or (per the licensee's choosing)
 *
 * under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1
 * as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 */
package ch.qos.logback.core.encoder;

import ch.qos.logback.core.spi.ContextAware;
import ch.qos.logback.core.spi.LifeCycle;

Encoders are responsible for transform an incoming event into a byte array
Author:
Ceki Gülcü, Joern Huxhorn, Maarten Bosteels
Type parameters:
<E> – 
         event type
Since:
0.9.19/**
 * Encoders are responsible for transform an incoming event into a byte array
 * 
 * @author Ceki G&uuml;lc&uuml;
 * @author Joern Huxhorn
 * @author Maarten Bosteels
 * 
 * @param <E>
 *          event type
 * @since 0.9.19
 */
public interface Encoder<E> extends ContextAware, LifeCycle {

    
Get header bytes. This method is typically called upon opening of 
an output stream.
Returns:
header bytes. Null values are allowed./**
     * Get header bytes. This method is typically called upon opening of 
     * an output stream.
     * 
     * @return header bytes. Null values are allowed.
     */
    byte[] headerBytes();

    
Encode an event as bytes.
 
Params:
event – /**
     * Encode an event as bytes.
     *  
     * @param event
     */
    byte[] encode(E event);
                    
    
Get footer bytes. This method is typically called prior to the closing 
of the stream where events are written.
Returns:
footer bytes. Null values are allowed./**
     * Get footer bytes. This method is typically called prior to the closing 
     * of the stream where events are written.
     * 
     * @return footer bytes. Null values are allowed.
     */
    byte[] footerBytes();
}