--- a/artifacts/src/main/java/de/intevation/artifacts/ArtifactDatabase.java	Thu Mar 25 17:32:54 2010 +0000
+++ b/artifacts/src/main/java/de/intevation/artifacts/ArtifactDatabase.java	Fri Mar 26 09:41:38 2010 +0000
@@ -12,8 +12,18 @@
  */
 public interface ArtifactDatabase
 {
+    /**
+     * Implementations of this class defer the out call.
+     */
     public interface DeferredOutput {
 
+        /**
+         * Inside this method the Artifact.out() method is called
+         * with the given Outputstream.
+         * @param output The stream to write the out() output into.
+         * @throws IOException Thrown if an exception occurs while writing to
+         * the output stream.
+         */
         void write(OutputStream output) throws IOException;
 
     } // interface DeferredOut
@@ -24,33 +34,141 @@
      */
     String [][] artifactFactoryNamesAndDescriptions();
 
+    /**
+     * The methods returns a 'pure' factory which is not bound to
+     * the artifact database. This means when an artifact is created
+     * with the factory the created artifact is  not stored in the
+     * artifact database.
+     * @param factoryName The name of the queried artifact factory.
+     * @return The queried artifact factory or null if corresponing
+     * factory is found.
+     */
     ArtifactFactory getInternalArtifactFactory(String factoryName);
 
-    Document createArtifactWithFactory(String factory, 
-                                       CallMeta callMeta,
-                                       Document data)
-        throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
+    /**
+     * Used to create an artifact with the factory which given
+     * by the name 'factory'. The artifact is stored inside the
+     * artifact database. If the creation succeeds the describe
+     * document of the artifact is returned.
+     * @param factory The name of the factory to create the artifact.
+     * @param callMeta The meta information (languages et. al.) of the
+     * creation.
+     * @param data Optional input data to parameterize the creation.
+     * @return The describe document of new artifact.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown if something went wrong
+     * during artifact creation.
+     */
+    Document createArtifactWithFactory(
+        String   factory,
+        CallMeta callMeta,
+        Document data
+    ) throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the describe document of artifact identified
+     * with the string 'artifact'.
+     * @param artifact The identifier of the artifact.
+     * @param data Optional input data to parameterize the description.
+     * @param callMeta the meta information (language et. al.) of
+     * the description.
+     * @return The describe document of the artifact.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown id something went wrong
+     * during the creation of the describe document.
+     */
     Document describe(String artifact, Document data, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * Advances the artifact identified by 'artifact' to the state
+     * 'target'. The result of the attempt is returned.
+     * @param artifact The identifier of the artifact.
+     * @param target The target state of the advance attempt.
+     * @param callMeta The meta information (language et. al.) of the
+     * advance attempt.
+     * @return The result document of the advance attempt.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown if something went wrong
+     * during the advance attempt.
+     */
     Document advance(String artifact, Document target, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * Feeds the artifact identified by 'artifact' with some data 'data'.
+     * @param artifact The identifier of the artifact.
+     * @param data The data to be fed into the artifact.
+     * @param callMeta The meta information (language et. al.) of the feed
+     * attempt.
+     * @return The result of the feed attempt.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Throw if something went wrong during
+     * the feed attempt.
+     */
     Document feed(String artifact, Document data, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * Produces output for a given artifact identified by 'artifact' in
+     * a requested format 'format'. The writing of the data is done when
+     * the write() method of the returned DeferredOutput is called. This
+     * optimizes the out streaming of the data because the call can be
+     * deferred into to the calling context.
+     * @param artifact The identifier of the artifact.
+     * @param format The request format of the output.
+     * @param callMeta The meta information (language et. al.) of the output.
+     * @return The deferred output to be written later in the calling context.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown if something went wrong during
+     * producing the output.
+     */
     DeferredOutput out(String artifact, Document format, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * Produces an extenal represention of the artifact identified by
+     * 'artifact' to be re-imported by #importArtifact(Document, CallMeta)
+     * later.
+     * @param artifact The identifier of the artifact.
+     * @param callMeta The meta informatio (language et. al.) of the export.
+     * @return A extenal representation of the artifact.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown if something went wrong
+     * during export.
+     */
     Document exportArtifact(String artifact, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * The symmetrical counter part of #exportArtifact(String, CallMeta).
+     * It attempts to import the artifact which is coded inside the 'data'
+     * document. When the import succeeds the new artifact is given a new
+     * internal identifier and the describe document of the artifact is
+     * returned.
+     * @param data The encoded artifact. Has to be the output of
+     * #exportArtifact(String, CallMeta).
+     * @param callMeta The meta information (language et. al.) of the
+     * import.
+     * @return The describe document of the imported artifact.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown if something went wrong during
+     * the import attempt.
+     */
     Document importArtifact(Document data, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 
+    /**
+     * Returns a list of services offered by this artifact database.
+     * @return The array returned contains tuples of (name, description)
+     * strings.
+     */
     String [][] serviceNamesAndDescriptions();
 
+    /**
+     * Calls a service identified by 'service' with input document 'input'
+     * to produce some output document.
+     * @param service The name of the service.
+     * @param input The input document.
+     * @param callMeta The meta information (language et. al.) of the
+     * service call.
+     * @return The result document produced by the service.
+     * @throws ArtifactDatabaseException Thrown if someting went wrong during
+     * the service processing.
+     */
     Document process(String service, Document input, CallMeta callMeta)
         throws ArtifactDatabaseException;
 }