com.ibm.security.util
Class ObjectIdentifier

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--com.ibm.security.util.ObjectIdentifier

public final class ObjectIdentifier
extends Object
implements Serializable

Represent an ISO Object Identifier.

Object Identifiers are arbitrary length hierarchical identifiers. The individual components are numbers, and they define paths from the root of an ISO-managed identifier space. You will sometimes see a string name used instead of (or in addition to) the numerical id. These are synonyms for the numerical IDs, but are not widely used since most sites do not know all the requisite strings, while all sites can parse the numeric forms.

So for example, JavaSoft has the sole authority to assign the meaning to identifiers below the 1.3.6.1.4.1.42.2.17 node in the hierarchy, and other organizations can easily acquire the ability to assign such unique identifiers.

ObjectIdentifier objects are immutable; they cannot be changed once created.

See Also:
Serialized Form

Constructor Summary
ObjectIdentifier(com.ibm.security.util.DerInputStream in)
          Constructs an object ID from an ASN.1 encoded input stream.
ObjectIdentifier(int[] values)
          Constructs an object ID from an array of integers.
ObjectIdentifier(String oid)
          Constructs an object identifier from a string.
 
Method Summary
 boolean equals(Object other)
           
 boolean equals(ObjectIdentifier other)
          Compares this identifier with another, for equality.
 int hashCode()
           
 boolean precedes(ObjectIdentifier other)
          Compares this identifier with another, for sorting purposes.
 String toString()
          Returns a string form of the object ID.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

ObjectIdentifier

public ObjectIdentifier(String oid)
                 throws IOException
Constructs an object identifier from a string. This string should be of the form 1.23.34.45.56 etc.

ObjectIdentifier

public ObjectIdentifier(int[] values)
                 throws IOException
Constructs an object ID from an array of integers. This is used to construct constant object IDs.

ObjectIdentifier

public ObjectIdentifier(com.ibm.security.util.DerInputStream in)
                 throws IOException
Constructs an object ID from an ASN.1 encoded input stream. The encoding of the ID in the stream uses "DER", a BER/1 subset. In this case, that means a triple { typeId, length, data }.

NOTE: When an exception is thrown, the input stream has not been returned to its "initial" state.

Parameters:
derin - DER-encoded data holding an object ID
Throws:
IOException - indicates a decoding error
Method Detail

precedes

public boolean precedes(ObjectIdentifier other)
Compares this identifier with another, for sorting purposes. An identifier does not precede itself.
Parameters:
other - identifer that may precede this one.
Returns:
true iff other precedes this one in a particular sorting order.

equals

public boolean equals(Object other)
Overrides:
equals in class Object

equals

public boolean equals(ObjectIdentifier other)
Compares this identifier with another, for equality.
Returns:
true iff the names are identical.

hashCode

public int hashCode()
Overrides:
hashCode in class Object

toString

public String toString()
Returns a string form of the object ID. The format is the conventional "dot" notation for such IDs, without any user-friendly descriptive strings, since those strings will not be understood everywhere.
Overrides:
toString in class Object