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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 {@code true}.
56       */
57     public static final boolean CRITICAL = true;
58 
59     /**
60       * Indicates a non-critical control.
61       * The value of this constant is {@code false}.
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       */
getID()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 {@code OperationNotSupportedException} will be thrown.
79       * @return true if this control is critical; false otherwise.
80       */
isCritical()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       */
getEncodedValue()93     public byte[] getEncodedValue();
94 
95     // static final long serialVersionUID = -591027748900004825L;
96 }
97