1 /* Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 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.springframework.security;
17
18 import java.io.Serializable;
19
20
21 /**
22 * Stores a security system related configuration attribute.
23 *
24 * <p>
25 * When an {@link org.springframework.security.intercept.AbstractSecurityInterceptor}
26 * is setup, a list of configuration attributes is defined for secure object
27 * patterns. These configuration attributes have special meaning to a {@link
28 * RunAsManager}, {@link AccessDecisionManager} or
29 * <code>AccessDecisionManager</code> delegate.
30 * </p>
31 *
32 * <P>
33 * Stored at runtime with other <code>ConfigAttribute</code>s for the same
34 * secure object target within a {@link ConfigAttributeDefinition}.
35 * </p>
36 *
37 * @author Ben Alex
38 * @version $Id: ConfigAttribute.java 2217 2007-10-27 00:45:30Z luke_t $
39 */
40 public interface ConfigAttribute extends Serializable {
41 //~ Methods ========================================================================================================
42
43 /**
44 * If the <code>ConfigAttribute</code> can be represented as a <code>String</code> and that
45 * <code>String</code> is sufficient in precision to be relied upon as a configuration parameter by a {@link
46 * RunAsManager}, {@link AccessDecisionManager} or <code>AccessDecisionManager</code> delegate, this method should
47 * return such a <code>String</code>.<p>If the <code>ConfigAttribute</code> cannot be expressed with
48 * sufficient precision as a <code>String</code>, <code>null</code> should be returned. Returning
49 * <code>null</code> will require any relying classes to specifically support the <code>ConfigAttribute</code>
50 * implementation, so returning <code>null</code> should be avoided unless actually required.</p>
51 *
52 * @return a representation of the configuration attribute (or <code>null</code> if the configuration attribute
53 * cannot be expressed as a <code>String</code> with sufficient precision).
54 */
55 String getAttribute();
56 }