UserDirectoryProvider.java

/**********************************************************************************
 * $URL: https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/kernel/trunk/api/src/main/java/org/sakaiproject/user/api/UserDirectoryProvider.java $
 * $Id: UserDirectoryProvider.java 105077 2012-02-24 22:54:29Z ottenhoff@longsight.com $
 ***********************************************************************************
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Sakai Foundation
 *
 * Licensed under the Educational Community License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *       http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ECL-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 *
 **********************************************************************************/

package org.sakaiproject.user.api;

import java.util.Collection;

/**
 * <p>
 * UserDirectoryProvider feeds external user information to the UserDirectoryService.
 * </p>
 */
public interface UserDirectoryProvider
{
	/**
	 * Authenticate a user / password. If the user edit exists it may be modified, and will be stored if...
	 * 
	 * @param eid
	 *        The user eid.
	 * @param edit
	 *        The UserEdit matching the eid to be authenticated (may be updated by the provider).
	 * @param password
	 *        The password.
	 * @return true if authenticated, false if not.
	 */
	boolean authenticateUser(String eid, UserEdit edit, String password);

	/**
	 * Whether to check provider or internal data first when authenticating a user
	 * 
	 * @param eid
	 *        The user eid.
	 * @return true if provider data is checked first, false if otherwise
	 */
	boolean authenticateWithProviderFirst(String eid);

	/**
	 * Find a user object who has this email address. Update the object with the information found.
	 * 
	 * @param email
	 *        The email address string.
	 * @return true if the user object was found and information updated, false if not.
	 */
	boolean findUserByEmail(UserEdit edit, String email);

	/**
	 * Access a user object. Update the object with the information found.
	 * 
	 * @param edit
	 *        The user object (eid is set) to fill in.
	 * @return true if the user object was found and information updated, false if not.
	 */
	boolean getUser(UserEdit edit);

	/**
	 * Check each user in the specified collection of UserEdit objects. If the user is known,
	 * update the information. Otherwise remove the UserEdit object from the collection.
	 * 
	 * IMPORTANT: Use an Iterator to handle removal rather than calling the Collection
	 * "remove(Object)" method. The current implementation of UserEdit uses the user ID
	 * field to determine equality, but user EIDs which have never been mapped by
	 * Sakai will result in UserEdit objects with empty ID fields. In such circumstances,
	 * the Collection "remove" method may fail or produce incorrect results.   
	 * 
	 * @param users
	 *        The UserEdit objects (with eid set) to fill in or remove.
	 */
	void getUsers(Collection<UserEdit> users);
}