General Architecture
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The Spring Web Flow mechanism is used to execute Profile Actions ProfileActions, which make up the bulk of the IdP's processing model.
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The state of an executing Web Flow is managed in the IdP using a concept called the "context tree", a graph of objects each descended from a common class. Each context can have a parent, and maintains a class-indexed hashtable of children, limiting a tree to contain a single instance of a context type at a given level. Each context is typically of a derived type that particularizes it to store information specific to a single category of information. A context tree tends to be shallow, and is designed to support type-safe access to conversational state by Profile Actions ProfileActions.
At the root of the tree will be a context type that is specific to a particular pattern of interaction. The most common one in the IdP is a request/response pattern that is managed by the ProfileRequestContext context type. This context type chiefly just manages a slot for an inbound and outbound MessageContext, and then will contain child contexts reflecting the needs of the various actions that make up a particular profile flow.
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