package net.deterlab.abac;

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.lang.reflect.*;


/**
 * This class parses one or more Credentials.  Each class that wants to be
 * parsed needs to export a static method that returns one of these.  For
 * credentials that parse 1 credential to 1 input it will be a wrapper around a
 * constructor.
 * @author <a href="http://abac.deterlab.net">ISI ABAC team</a>
 * @version 1.3
 */
public abstract class CredentialParser {
    /**
     * Parse one or more Credentials from the given input and IDs.  The
     * sub-type of Credential returned is up to this class.
     * @param is an InputStream to be parsed
     * @param ids a Collection of Identity s to use in validating credentials.
     * @return an array of Credentials
     * @throws ABACException on parsing problems
     */
    public abstract Credential[] parseCredential(InputStream is, 
	    Collection<Identity> ids) throws ABACException;
}