variable.hpp

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/*
 * Copyright 2011-2012 Tanjeff-Nicolai Moos <tanjeff@cccmz.de>
 *
 * This file is part of the agentXcpp library.
 *
 * AgentXcpp is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the AgentXcpp library license, version 1, which 
 * consists of the GNU General Public License and some additional 
 * permissions.
 *
 * AgentXcpp is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 * See the AgentXcpp library license in the LICENSE file of this package 
 * for more details.
 */
#ifndef _VARIABLE_H_
#define _VARIABLE_H_

#include "binary.hpp"

namespace agentxcpp
{
    /**
     * \brief This class represents a SNMP variable.
     *
     * This class is used as base class for the SNMP variable types (such as 
     * Octet_String or Integer). It has no functions or members exposed to the 
     * API.
     */
    class variable
    {
        public:
            /**
             * \internal
             *
             * \brief Serialize the variable.
             *
             * This function must be implemented by all derived classes. The 
             * function shall generate a serialized form of the variable.
             *
             * \return The serialized form of the variable.
             *
             * \exception None: The function shall not throw.
             */
            // Needed for encoding varbinds
            virtual binary serialize() const = 0;

            /**
             * \brief Destructor.
             */
             virtual ~variable()
             {
             }

            /**
             * \internal
             *
             * \brief Update the internal state of the variable.
             *
             * This function must be implemented in derived classes. It shall 
             * update the internal state of the object.
             *
             * \exception generic_error If obtaining the new value failed. The
             *                          state of such an object cannot be 
             *                          updated.
             */
            virtual void update()=0;
    };
}


#endif