--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/artifact-database/src/main/java/de/intevation/artifactdatabase/state/State.java	Thu Feb 03 18:00:41 2011 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2011 by Intevation GmbH
+ *
+ * This program is free software under the LGPL (>=v2.1)
+ * Read the file LGPL.txt coming with the software for details
+ * or visit http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ if it does not exist.
+ */
+package de.intevation.artifactdatabase.state;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
+import org.w3c.dom.Node;
+
+import de.intevation.artifacts.CallContext;
+
+import de.intevation.artifactdatabase.data.StateData;
+
+
+/**
+ * This interface describes the basic methods a concrete state class needs to
+ * implement.
+ *
+ * @author <a href="mailto:ingo.weinzierl@intevation.de">Ingo Weinzierl</a>
+ */
+public interface State extends Serializable {
+
+    /**
+     * Return the id of the state.
+     *
+     * @return the id.
+     */
+    public String getID();
+
+
+    /**
+     * Return the description of the state.
+     *
+     * @return the description of the state.
+     */
+    public String getDescription();
+
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the data provided by this state.
+     *
+     * @return the data stored in this state.
+     */
+    public Map<String, StateData> getData();
+
+
+    /**
+     * Initialize the state based on the state node in the configuration.
+     *
+     * @param config The state configuration node.
+     */
+    public void setup(Node config);
+
+
+    /**
+     * This method is called when an artifacts retrieves a describe request. It
+     * creates the user interface description of the current state.
+     *
+     * @param document Describe doucment.
+     * @param rootNode Parent node for all new elements.
+     * @param context The CallContext.
+     * @param uuid The uuid of an artifact.
+     */
+    public void describe(
+        Document    document,
+        Node        rootNode,
+        CallContext context,
+        String      uuid
+    );
+}
+// vim:set ts=4 sw=4 si et sta sts=4 fenc=utf-8 :