--- /dev/null
+/*-
+ * ================================================================================
+ * eCOMP Portal
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 AT&T Intellectual Property
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * ================================================================================
+ */
+package org.openecomp.portalapp.portal.service;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.openecomp.portalapp.portal.domain.SharedContext;
+
+/**
+ * Defines the methods exposed by the service that manages shared context
+ * objects in the database via Hibernate.
+ */
+public interface SharedContextService {
+
+ /**
+ * Gets all shared context objects for the specified context ID.
+ *
+ * @return List of SharedContext objects
+ */
+ List<SharedContext> getSharedContexts(String contextId);
+
+ /**
+ * Gets the shared context with the specified context ID and key.
+ *
+ * @param contextId
+ * Context ID; usually a session ID
+ * @param key
+ * Key for the key-value pair
+ * @return Value found in the database, null if any parameter is null or no
+ * shared context exists with that context ID - key pair.
+ */
+ SharedContext getSharedContext(String contextId, String key);
+
+ /**
+ * Creates a new shared context in the database with the specified context
+ * ID, key and value.
+ *
+ * @param context
+ * SharedContext object to save.
+ * @param key
+ * Key for the key-value pair.
+ * @param value
+ * Value for the key-value pair.
+ */
+ void addSharedContext(String contextId, String key, String value);
+
+ /**
+ * Saves the specified shared context to the database.
+ *
+ * @param context
+ * SharedContext object to save.
+ */
+ void saveSharedContext(SharedContext context);
+
+ /**
+ * Deletes the specified shared context from the database.
+ *
+ * @param context
+ * SharedContext object to delete.
+ */
+ void deleteSharedContext(SharedContext context);
+
+ /**
+ * Deletes all shared contexts with the specified context ID.
+ *
+ * @param contextId
+ * Context ID; usually a session ID
+ * @return number of shared-context objects deleted
+ */
+ int deleteSharedContexts(String contextId);
+
+ /**
+ * Deletes all shared contexts that are older (judged from creation
+ * timestamp) than the specified value.
+ *
+ * @param ageInSeconds
+ * Expiration threshold in seconds
+ */
+ void expireSharedContexts(int ageInSeconds);
+
+}