org.apache.sling.api.auth

Interface Authenticator

public interface Authenticator

The Authenticator interface defines the service interface which may be used by applications to enforce requests to be authenticated (see login(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse)) or to end enforced authentication (see logout(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse) ). As such this service may be looked at as the functionality to enable applications to log users in and out.

A very simple login script (using ESP here) could be implemented like this:

 var auth = sling.getService(org.apache.sling.commons.auth.Authenticator);
 if (auth != null) {
     try {
         auth.login(request, response);
         return; // we are done here
     } catch (e) {
         // probably NoAuthenticationHandler exception
     }
 }
 // Authenticator service is missing or no AuthenticationHandler
 ... do whatever you want to for error handling ...
 

Likewise implementing a logout script (ESP, too) is equally simple:

 if (request.authType) {
     // not logged in at all, no need to logout
 } else {
     var auth = sling.getService(org.apache.sling.commons.auth.Authenticator);
     if (auth != null) {
         auth.logout(request, response);
     } else {
         // handle the case of no Authenticator service to logout with
     }
 }
 

This interface is not intended to be implemented by applications but may be used to initiate the authentication process form a request processing servlet or script.

Since:

1.0 (Sling API Bundle 2.1.0)

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
static java.lang.String	LOGIN_RESOURCE Name of the request attribute which may be set by the application to indicate to the login(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse) method to which resource access should actually be authenticated.
static java.lang.String	SERVICE_NAME The name under which this service is registered.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	login(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) Tries to login a request user for the current request.
void	logout(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) Logs out if the current request is authenticated.

Field Detail

SERVICE_NAME

static final java.lang.String SERVICE_NAME

The name under which this service is registered.

LOGIN_RESOURCE

static final java.lang.String LOGIN_RESOURCE

Name of the request attribute which may be set by the application to indicate to the login(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse) method to which resource access should actually be authenticated. If this request attribute is not set or is the empty string, the login(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse) method uses the request path info (HttpServletRequest.getPathInfo()) method to find the resource to which to authenticate access.

This request attribute can be used by frontend servlets/scripts which call into login(HttpServletRequest, HttpServletResponse) on behalf of users.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

login

void login(HttpServletRequest request,
           HttpServletResponse response)

Tries to login a request user for the current request.

To identify the resource to which access should be authenticated the resource request attribute is considered. If the request attribute is not set the request path info ( HttpServletRequest.getPathInfo()) is used.

This method must be called on an uncommitted response since the implementation may want to reset the response to start the authentication process with a clean response. If the response is already committed an IllegalStateException is thrown.

After this method has finished, request processing should be terminated and the response be considered committed and finished unless the NoAuthenticationHandlerException exception is thrown in which case no response has been sent to the client.

Parameters:

request - The object representing the client request.

response - The object representing the response to the client.

Throws:

NoAuthenticationHandlerException - If the service cannot find a way to authenticate a request user.

java.lang.IllegalStateException - If the response has already been committed.

logout

void logout(HttpServletRequest request,
            HttpServletResponse response)

Logs out if the current request is authenticated.

This method must be called on an uncommitted response since the implementation may want to reset the response to restart the authentication process with a clean response. If the response is already committed an IllegalStateException is thrown.

After this method has finished, request processing should be terminated and the response be considered committed and finished.

Parameters:

request - The object representing the client request.

response - The object representing the response to the client.

Throws:

java.lang.IllegalStateException - If the response has already been committed.