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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;
17  
18  /***
19   * Represents an authority granted to an {@link Authentication} object.
20   * 
21   * <p>
22   * A <code>GrantedAuthority</code> must either represent itself as a
23   * <code>String</code> or be specifically supported by an  {@link
24   * AccessDecisionManager}.
25   * </p>
26   *
27   * @author Ben Alex
28   * @version $Id: GrantedAuthority.java,v 1.3 2005/11/17 00:55:49 benalex Exp $
29   */
30  public interface GrantedAuthority {
31      //~ Methods ================================================================
32  
33      /***
34       * If the <code>GrantedAuthority</code> can be represented as a
35       * <code>String</code> and that <code>String</code> is sufficient in
36       * precision to be relied upon for an access control decision by an {@link
37       * AccessDecisionManager} (or delegate), this method should return such a
38       * <code>String</code>.
39       * 
40       * <p>
41       * If the <code>GrantedAuthority</code> cannot be expressed with sufficient
42       * precision as a <code>String</code>,  <code>null</code> should be
43       * returned. Returning <code>null</code> will require an
44       * <code>AccessDecisionManager</code> (or delegate) to  specifically
45       * support the <code>GrantedAuthority</code> implementation,  so returning
46       * <code>null</code> should be avoided unless actually  required.
47       * </p>
48       *
49       * @return a representation of the granted authority (or <code>null</code>
50       *         if the granted authority cannot be expressed as a
51       *         <code>String</code> with sufficient precision).
52       */
53      public String getAuthority();
54  }