uk.co.weft.dbutil
Interface Authenticator

All Known Implementing Classes:

JDBCAuthenticator

public interface Authenticator

an interface describing an agent which can authenticate a context

Version:

$Revision: 1.4.4.1 $ This revision: $Author: simon $

Author:

Simon Brooke

Field Summary

static int	BADDATA return value indicating that the data (e.g.
static int	ISVALID return value indicating that the context is valid
static int	NODATA return value indicating that there wasn't enough data to determine whether the context was valid (e.g.
static int	TOKEN_FEATURE_ACCEPT_DEFAULT Token features: bitwise andable values which allow information about the features of a token to be combined into a single return value.
static int	TOKEN_FEATURE_OPTIONAL Token features: bitwise andable values which allow information about the features of a token to be combined into a single return value.
static int	TOKEN_FEATURE_SECRET Token features: bitwise andable values which allow information about the features of a token to be combined into a single return value.
static int	UNKNOWN return value indicating failure to determine authenticity (e.g.

Method Summary

int	getFeatures(java.lang.String token) what features does this authentication token have?
java.lang.String	getHelp(java.lang.String token) what is the appropriate help string for this token?
java.lang.String	getPrompt(java.lang.String token) what is the appropriate user prompt for this token?
int	getSize(java.lang.String token) what is the maximum acceptable length of the value of this token?
void	init(Context config) initialise me with information from this context
java.lang.String[]	interestingTokens() what tokens am I interested in in a context?
int	isAuthentic(Context context) Is the information in this context authentic? Return true if happy, false if unhappy for any reason
boolean	isSecret(java.lang.String token) Deprecated. use getFeatures( token) instead

Field Detail

ISVALID

public static final int ISVALID

return value indicating that the context is valid

See Also:

Constant Field Values

NODATA

public static final int NODATA

return value indicating that there wasn't enough data to determine whether the context was valid (e.g. no username, no password)

See Also:

Constant Field Values

BADDATA

public static final int BADDATA

return value indicating that the data (e.g. username, password) were invalid

See Also:

Constant Field Values

UNKNOWN

public static final int UNKNOWN

return value indicating failure to determine authenticity (e.g. because the backend wasn't available

See Also:

Constant Field Values

TOKEN_FEATURE_SECRET

public static final int TOKEN_FEATURE_SECRET

Token features: bitwise andable values which allow information about the features of a token to be combined into a single return value. Yes, not a very Java way of doing things. This token feature means that a password type non-echoing widget should be used to collect this value

See Also:

Constant Field Values

TOKEN_FEATURE_OPTIONAL

public static final int TOKEN_FEATURE_OPTIONAL

Token features: bitwise andable values which allow information about the features of a token to be combined into a single return value. Yes, not a very Java way of doing things. This token feature means that no value need be returned for this token. Note, however, that in an authentication context if there's more than on 'optional' token then probably a value will be needed for at least one of them

See Also:

Constant Field Values

TOKEN_FEATURE_ACCEPT_DEFAULT

public static final int TOKEN_FEATURE_ACCEPT_DEFAULT

Token features: bitwise andable values which allow information about the features of a token to be combined into a single return value. Yes, not a very Java way of doing things. This token feature means that if a value is already available for this token the user should not be able to change it

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

init

public void init(Context config)

initialise me with information from this context

Parameters:

config - a context within which I may find my configuration

isAuthentic

public int isAuthentic(Context context)

Is the information in this context authentic? Return true if happy, false if unhappy for any reason

Returns:

ISVALID if all OK; NODATA if data required to authenticate is missing; BADDATA if the data supplied was invalid; and UNKNOWN if authenticity could not be determined

interestingTokens

public java.lang.String[] interestingTokens()

what tokens am I interested in in a context?

Returns:

as an array of strings the tokens which I consider interesting in a context. These are, obviously, the tokens whose values I will use to try to authenticate the context.

isSecret

public boolean isSecret(java.lang.String token)

Deprecated. use getFeatures( token) instead

is the value of this token a secret (e.g., a password or passphrase).

Parameters:

token - the token, should be one of my interesting tokens

Returns:

true if the value of the token is a secret, false otherwise.

See Also:

getFeatures(String)

getFeatures

public int getFeatures(java.lang.String token)

what features does this authentication token have?

Parameters:

token -

Returns:

an integer which is a bitwise and of all the token features which are relevant to this token.

getPrompt

public java.lang.String getPrompt(java.lang.String token)

what is the appropriate user prompt for this token?

Parameters:

token - the token, should be one of my interesting tokens

Returns:

a suitable prompt

getSize

public int getSize(java.lang.String token)

what is the maximum acceptable length of the value of this token?

Parameters:

token - the token, should be one of my interesting tokens

Returns:

the maximum size of the value I expect

getHelp

public java.lang.String getHelp(java.lang.String token)

what is the appropriate help string for this token?

Parameters:

token - the token, should be one of my interesting tokens

Returns:

a suitable help string