org.osid.authentication.process

Interface Authentication

All Superinterfaces:

Browsable, Extensible, Identifiable, OsidObject

public interface Authentication
extends OsidObject

Authentication represents an authentication credential which contains set of bytes and a format Type. Once an Authentication is created from the AuthenticationValidationSession, the credential data can be extracted and sent to the remote peer for validation. The remote peer gets another Authentication object as a result of validating the serialized credential data.

An Authentication may or may not be valid. isValid() should be checked before acting upon the Agent identity to which the credential is mapped.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
Agent	getAgent() Gets the Agent identified in this authentication credential.
Id	getAgentId() Gets the Id of the Agent identified in this authentication credential.
AuthenticationRecord	getAuthenticationRecord(Type authenticationRecordType) Gets the authentication record corresponding to the given authentication record Type.
java.lang.Object	getCredential(Type credentialType) Gets the credential represented by the given Type for transport to a remote service.
java.util.Date	getExpiration() Gets the expiration date associated with this authentication credential.
boolean	hasCredential() Tests if this authentication has a credential for export.
boolean	hasExpiration() Tests if this authentication has an expiration.
boolean	isValid() Tests whether or not the credential represented by this Authentication is currently valid.

Methods inherited from interface org.osid.OsidObject

getDescription, getDisplayName, getGenusType, isOfGenusType

Methods inherited from interface org.osid.Identifiable

getId, isCurrent

Methods inherited from interface org.osid.Extensible

getRecordTypes, hasRecordType

Methods inherited from interface org.osid.Browsable

getProperties, getPropertiesByRecordType

Method Detail

getAgentId

Id getAgentId()

Gets the Id of the Agent identified in this authentication credential.

Returns:

the Agent Id

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

Notes:

The - Agent should be determined at the time this credential is created.

getAgent

Agent getAgent()
               throws OperationFailedException

Gets the Agent identified in this authentication credential.

Returns:

the Agent

Throws:

OperationFailedException - unable to complete request

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

isValid

boolean isValid()

Tests whether or not the credential represented by this Authentication is currently valid. A credential may be invalid because it has been destroyed, expired, or is somehow no longer able to be used.

Returns:

true if this authentication credential is valid, false otherwise

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

Notes:

Any - problem in determining the validity of this credential should result in false.

hasExpiration

boolean hasExpiration()

Tests if this authentication has an expiration.

Returns:

true if this authentication has an expiration, false otherwise

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

getExpiration

java.util.Date getExpiration()

Gets the expiration date associated with this authentication credential. Consumers should check for the existence of a an expiration mechanism via hasExpiration().

Returns:

the expiration date of this authentication credential

Throws:

IllegalStateException - hasExpiration() is false

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

hasCredential

boolean hasCredential()

Tests if this authentication has a credential for export.

Returns:

true if this authentication has a credential, false otherwise

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

getCredential

java.lang.Object getCredential(Type credentialType)

Gets the credential represented by the given Type for transport to a remote service.

Parameters:

credentialType - the credential format Type

Returns:

the credential

Throws:

IllegalStateException - hasCredential() is false

NullArgumentException - credentialType is null

UnsupportedException - the given credentialType is not supported

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.

Notes:

A - provider may support multiple credential formats for a variety of applications.

getAuthenticationRecord

AuthenticationRecord getAuthenticationRecord(Type authenticationRecordType)
                                             throws OperationFailedException,
                                                    PermissionDeniedException

Gets the authentication record corresponding to the given authentication record Type. This method is used to retrieve an object implementing the requested record. The authenticationRecordType may be the Type returned in getRecordTypes() or any of its parents in a Type hierarchy where hasRecordType(authenticationRecordType) is true .

Parameters:

authenticationRecordType - the type of authentication record to retrieve

Returns:

the authentication record

Throws:

NullArgumentException - authenticationRecordType is null

OperationFailedException - unable to complete request

PermissionDeniedException - authorization failure occurred

UnsupportedException - hasRecordType(authenticatonRecordType) is false

Compliance:

mandatory - This method must be implemented.