namespace DigitalRuby.SimpleCache;

/// <summary>

/// Interface for serializing cache objects to/from bytes

/// </summary>

public interface ISerializer

{

/// <summary>

/// Deserialize

/// </summary>

/// <param name="bytes">Bytes to deserialize</param>

/// <param name="type">Type of object to deserialize to</param>

/// <returns>Deserialized object or null if bytes is null or empty</returns>

object? Deserialize(byte[]? bytes, Type type);

/// <summary>

/// Deserialize using generic type parameter

/// </summary>

/// <typeparam name="T">Type of object to deserialize</typeparam>

/// <param name="bytes">Bytes</param>

/// <returns>Deserialized object or null if bytes is null or empty</returns>

T? Deserialize<T>(byte[]? bytes) => (T?)Deserialize(bytes, typeof(T));

/// <summary>

/// Serialize an object

/// </summary>

/// <param name="obj">Object to serialize</param>

/// <returns>Serialized bytes or null if obj is null</returns>

byte[]? Serialize(object? obj);

/// <summary>

/// Serialize using generic type parameter

/// </summary>

/// <typeparam name="T">Type of object</typeparam>

/// <param name="obj">Object to serialize</param>

/// <returns>Serialized bytes or null if obj is null</returns>

byte[]? Serialize<T>(T? obj) => Serialize(obj);

/// <summary>

/// Get a short description for the serializer, i.e. json or json-lz4.

/// </summary>

string Description { get; }

}