+ * Gets the metadata for an entity that issued a SAML artifact. If a valid entity is returned,
+ * the provider will be left in a locked state. The caller MUST unlock the
+ * provider when finished with the entity.
+ *
+ * @param artifact a SAML artifact to find the issuer of
+ *
+ * @return the entity's metadata or NULL if there is no valid metadata
+ */
+ virtual const EntityDescriptor* getEntityDescriptor(const SAMLArtifact* artifact) const=0;
+
+ /**