org.springframework.security.authentication.AuthenticationProvider.java Source code

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Here is the source code for org.springframework.security.authentication.AuthenticationProvider.java

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/*
 * Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 Acegi Technology Pty Limited
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.springframework.security.authentication;

import org.springframework.security.core.Authentication;
import org.springframework.security.core.AuthenticationException;

/**
 * Indicates a class can process a specific
 * {@link org.springframework.security.core.Authentication} implementation.
 *
 * @author Ben Alex
 */
public interface AuthenticationProvider {
    // ~ Methods
    // ========================================================================================================

    /**
     * Performs authentication with the same contract as
     * {@link org.springframework.security.authentication.AuthenticationManager#authenticate(Authentication)}
     * .
     *
     * @param authentication the authentication request object.
     *
     * @return a fully authenticated object including credentials. May return
     * <code>null</code> if the <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> is unable to support
     * authentication of the passed <code>Authentication</code> object. In such a case,
     * the next <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> that supports the presented
     * <code>Authentication</code> class will be tried.
     *
     * @throws AuthenticationException if authentication fails.
     */
    Authentication authenticate(Authentication authentication) throws AuthenticationException;

    /**
     * Returns <code>true</code> if this <Code>AuthenticationProvider</code> supports the
     * indicated <Code>Authentication</code> object.
     * <p>
     * Returning <code>true</code> does not guarantee an
     * <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> will be able to authenticate the presented
     * instance of the <code>Authentication</code> class. It simply indicates it can
     * support closer evaluation of it. An <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> can still
     * return <code>null</code> from the {@link #authenticate(Authentication)} method to
     * indicate another <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> should be tried.
     * </p>
     * <p>
     * Selection of an <code>AuthenticationProvider</code> capable of performing
     * authentication is conducted at runtime the <code>ProviderManager</code>.
     * </p>
     *
     * @param authentication
     *
     * @return <code>true</code> if the implementation can more closely evaluate the
     * <code>Authentication</code> class presented
     */
    boolean supports(Class<?> authentication);
}