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    1   /* Copyright 2004 Acegi Technology Pty Limited
    2    *
    3    * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
    4    * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
    5    * You may obtain a copy of the License at
    6    *
    7    *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
    8    *
    9    * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
    10   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
    11   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
    12   * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
    13   * limitations under the License.
    14   */
    15
    16  package org.acegisecurity.providers;
    17
    18  import org.acegisecurity.Authentication;
    19  import org.acegisecurity.AuthenticationException;
    20
    21
    22  /***
    23   * Indicates a class can process a specific  {@link
    24   * org.acegisecurity.Authentication} implementation.
    25   *
    26   * @author Ben Alex
    27   * @version $Id: AuthenticationProvider.java,v 1.5 2005/11/17 00:55:49 benalex Exp $
    28   */
    29  public interface AuthenticationProvider {
    30      //~ Methods ================================================================
    31
    32      /***
    33       * Performs authentication with the same contract as {@link
    34       * org.acegisecurity.AuthenticationManager#authenticate(Authentication)}.
    35       *
    36       * @param authentication the authentication request object.
    37       *
    38       * @return a fully authenticated object including credentials. May return
    39       *         <code>null</code> if the <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> is
    40       *         unable to support authentication of the passed
    41       *         <code>Authentication</code> object. In such a case, the next
    42       *         <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> that supports the presented
    43       *         <code>Authentication</code> class will be tried.
    44       *
    45       * @throws AuthenticationException if authentication fails.
    46       */
    47      public Authentication authenticate(Authentication authentication)
    48          throws AuthenticationException;
    49
    50      /***
    51       * Returns <code>true</code> if this <Code>AuthenticationProvider</code>
    52       * supports the indicated <Code>Authentication</code> object.
    53       *
    54       * <p>
    55       * Returning <code>true</code> does not guarantee an
    56       * <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> will be able to authenticate the
    57       * presented instance of the <code>Authentication</code> class. It simply
    58       * indicates it can support closer evaluation of it. An
    59       * <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> can still return <code>null</code>
    60       * from the {@link #authenticate(Authentication)} method to indicate
    61       * another <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> should be tried.
    62       * </p>
    63       *
    64       * <P>
    65       * Selection of an <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> capable of
    66       * performing authentication is conducted at runtime the
    67       * <code>ProviderManager</code>.
    68       * </p>
    69       *
    70       * @return <code>true</code> if the implementation can more closely
    71       *         evaluate the <code>Authentication</code> class presented
    72       */
    73      public boolean supports(Class authentication);
    74  }