+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the Symfony package.
+ *
+ * (c) Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder;
+
+use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Exception\UnexpectedValueException;
+
+/**
+ * Defines the interface of encoders.
+ *
+ * @author Jordi Boggiano <j.boggiano@seld.be>
+ */
+interface EncoderInterface
+{
+ /**
+ * Encodes data into the given format.
+ *
+ * @param mixed $data Data to encode
+ * @param string $format Format name
+ * @param array $context options that normalizers/encoders have access to
+ *
+ * @return scalar
+ *
+ * @throws UnexpectedValueException
+ */
+ public function encode($data, $format, array $context = array());
+
+ /**
+ * Checks whether the serializer can encode to given format.
+ *
+ * @param string $format format name
+ *
+ * @return bool
+ */
+ public function supportsEncoding($format);
+}