--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/artifact-database/src/main/java/org/dive4elements/artifactdatabase/state/State.java	Thu Apr 25 10:57:18 2013 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+/*
+ * 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.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+import org.w3c.dom.Node;
+
+import de.intevation.artifacts.Artifact;
+import de.intevation.artifacts.CallContext;
+import de.intevation.artifacts.CallMeta;
+
+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 help text configured for the state.
+     *
+     * @return the help text configured for the state.
+     */
+    public String getHelpText();
+
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the data provided by this state.
+     *
+     * @return the data stored in this state.
+     */
+    public Map<String, StateData> getData();
+
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a single desired StateData object based on its name.
+     *
+     * @param name The name of the desired StateData object.
+     *
+     * @return the desired StateData object.
+     */
+    public StateData getData(String name);
+
+
+    /**
+     * This method should be used to add a new {@link StateData} object to the
+     * data pool of the state.
+     *
+     * @param name The name of the data object.
+     * @param data The data object.
+     */
+    public void addData(String name, StateData data);
+
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the list of possible outputs of this state. The list is empty
+     * if no output is available for this state.
+     *
+     * @return a list of possible outputs of this state.
+     */
+    public List<Output> getOutputs();
+
+
+    /**
+     * Initialize the state based on the state node in the configuration.
+     *
+     * @param config The state configuration node.
+     */
+    public void setup(Node config);
+
+
+    /**
+     * Initializes the internal state of this State based on an other State.
+     *
+     * @param orig The owner Artifact or the original State.
+     * @param owner The owner Artifact of this State.
+     * @param context The context object.
+     * @param callMeta The CallMeta of the current call.
+     */
+    public void initialize(
+        Artifact orig,
+        Artifact owner,
+        Object   context,
+        CallMeta callMeta);
+
+
+    /**
+     * This method is called when an artifacts retrieves a describe request. It
+     * creates the user interface description of the current state.
+     *
+     * @param artifact A reference to the artifact this state belongs to.
+     * @param document Describe doucment.
+     * @param rootNode Parent node for all new elements.
+     * @param context The CallContext.
+     * @param uuid The uuid of an artifact.
+     */
+    public Element describe(
+        Artifact    artifact,
+        Document    document,
+        Node        rootNode,
+        CallContext context,
+        String      uuid
+    );
+
+
+    /**
+     * This method should be called by an Artifact that removes this State
+     * (current State and previous States). E.g. this might be interesting to
+     * remove generated files or stuff like that.
+     *
+     * @param artifact A parent Artifact.
+     * @param context The CallContext.
+     */
+    public void endOfLife(Artifact artifact, Object context);
+}
+// vim:set ts=4 sw=4 si et sta sts=4 fenc=utf-8 :