de.frame4j.net

Class Authentication

java.lang.Object

java.net.Authenticator

de.frame4j.net.Authentication

@MinDoc(copyright="Copyright 2001 - 2004, 2009  A. Weinert",
        author="Albrecht Weinert",
        version="V.44",
        lastModified="6.05.2021",
        usage="import",
        purpose="stateful class; objects to hold authentication info")
public class Authentication
extends Authenticator

Authentication for java.net connections.

An object of this class is a simple authenticator for network connections needing a user name and password. If such an object is registered as standard authenticator the package java.net does the authentication of network connections in the background. An Authentication object is also effective for an Input if this uses an URL connection.

The usage is quite simple::

    new  Authentication("name", "passw", true);
    Input ein = new Input("urlDenotation");
    ein.copyTo( // or what ever one likes to do with the data

Authentication object store the password in clear text in an immutable String. The latter will avoided as far as possible. Authentication objects are to be used for network connections mainly to Linux servers requiring clear text passwords. Do not use for JMX or safety critical applications.

© Copyright 2001 - 2004 Albrecht Weinert

Version:

44 (6.05.2021)

Author:

Albrecht Weinert

See Also:

Input

Nested Class Summary

Nested classes/interfaces inherited from class java.net.Authenticator

Authenticator.RequestorType

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
protected String	name The user name.
protected char[]	pass The password.
protected PasswordAuthentication	pAuth Authentication with Password.

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
Authentication(String name, char[] pass, boolean setD) Construct with name, password and optional registration.
Authentication(String name, String pass, boolean setD) Construct with name, password and optional registration.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	clearPass() Clear the password.
protected PasswordAuthentication	getPasswordAuthentication() Authentication with Password.
void	setAsDefault() Set as default authenticator.

Methods inherited from class java.net.Authenticator

getRequestingHost, getRequestingPort, getRequestingPrompt, getRequestingProtocol, getRequestingScheme, getRequestingSite, getRequestingURL, getRequestorType, requestPasswordAuthentication, requestPasswordAuthentication, requestPasswordAuthentication, setDefault

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

name

protected String name

The user name.

Will be stored as (clear text) String.

pass

protected char[] pass

The password.

Will be stored in clear text, but as char[] not as String.

Storing as char array instead of String has the advantage of not leaving a long lived memory trace after object garbage collection as is probable with Strings due to common usage of internal arrays.

In so far the constructor Authentication(String, char[], boolean) is to be preferred over Authentication(String, String, boolean).

See Also:

name, clearPass()

pAuth

protected volatile PasswordAuthentication pAuth

Authentication with Password.

Will be generated on first call of getPasswordAuthentication().

Constructor Detail

Authentication

public Authentication(String name,
                      char[] pass,
                      boolean setD)

Construct with name, password and optional registration.

An Authentication object is made and registered as default authenticator.

Parameters:

name - the name

pass - the password

setD - true: Set as default authenticator

Authentication

public Authentication(String name,
                      String pass,
                      boolean setD)

Construct with name, password and optional registration.

An Authentication object will be made and set as default authenticator.

Parameters:

name - the name

pass - the password

setD - true: Set as default authenticator

See Also:

Authentication(String, char[], boolean), pass

Method Detail

clearPass

public void clearPass()

Clear the password.

This method clears pass and pAuth as well a by overwriting the memory used by the password; for the background please see pass.

After calling this method no further authentication with this object is possible. It shall be called (only) after the last usage.

getPasswordAuthentication

protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication()

Authentication with Password.

This method returns a singleton PasswordAuthentication object for this Authentication object.
It is generated at the very first call.

Overrides:

getPasswordAuthentication in class Authenticator

setAsDefault

public void setAsDefault()

Set as default authenticator.

After calling this method the java.net package will use this object's setting if a connection require authentication.