javax.mail
Class Authenticator

java.lang.Object
  javax.mail.Authenticator

public abstract class Authenticator
extends Object

The class Authenticator represents an object that knows how to obtain authentication for a network connection. Usually, it will do this by prompting the user for information.

Applications use this class by creating a subclass, and registering an instance of that subclass with the session when it is created. When authentication is required, the system will invoke a method on the subclass (like getPasswordAuthentication). The subclass's method can query about the authentication being requested with a number of inherited methods (getRequestingXXX()), and form an appropriate message for the user.

All methods that request authentication have a default implementation that fails.

Version:

1.8, 08/29/05

Author:

Bill Foote, Bill Shannon

See Also:

Authenticator, Session.getInstance(java.util.Properties, javax.mail.Authenticator), Session.getDefaultInstance(java.util.Properties, javax.mail.Authenticator), Session.requestPasswordAuthentication(java.net.InetAddress, int, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.lang.String), PasswordAuthentication

Constructor Summary

Authenticator()

Method Summary

protected String	getDefaultUserName()
protected PasswordAuthentication	getPasswordAuthentication() Called when password authentication is needed.
protected int	getRequestingPort()
protected String	getRequestingPrompt()
protected String	getRequestingProtocol() Give the protocol that's requesting the connection.
protected InetAddress	getRequestingSite()

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Constructor Detail

Authenticator

public Authenticator()

Method Detail

getRequestingSite

protected final InetAddress getRequestingSite()

Returns:

the InetAddress of the site requesting authorization, or null if it's not available.

getRequestingPort

protected final int getRequestingPort()

Returns:

the port for the requested connection

getRequestingProtocol

protected final String getRequestingProtocol()

Give the protocol that's requesting the connection. Often this will be based on a URLName.

Returns:

the protcol

See Also:

URLName.getProtocol()

getRequestingPrompt

protected final String getRequestingPrompt()

Returns:

the prompt string given by the requestor

getDefaultUserName

protected final String getDefaultUserName()

Returns:

the default user name given by the requestor

getPasswordAuthentication

protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication()

Called when password authentication is needed. Subclasses should override the default implementation, which returns null.

Note that if this method uses a dialog to prompt the user for this information, the dialog needs to block until the user supplies the information. This method can not simply return after showing the dialog.

Returns:

The PasswordAuthentication collected from the user, or null if none is provided.