/* Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 Acegi Technology Pty Limited
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache 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.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-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.springframework.security.authentication.rcp;

import java.util.Collection;

import org.springframework.security.core.GrantedAuthority;


/**
 * Allows remote clients to attempt authentication.
 *
 * @author Ben Alex
 */
public interface RemoteAuthenticationManager {
    //~ Methods ========================================================================================================

    /**
     * Attempts to authenticate the remote client using the presented username and password. If authentication
     * is successful, an array of <code>GrantedAuthority[]</code> objects will be returned.
     * <p>
     * In order to maximise remoting protocol compatibility, a design decision was taken to operate with minimal
     * arguments and return only the minimal amount of information required for remote clients to enable/disable
     * relevant user interface commands etc. There is nothing preventing users from implementing their own equivalent
     * package that works with more complex object types.
     *
     * @param username the username the remote client wishes to authenticate with.
     * @param password the password the remote client wishes to authenticate with.
     *
     * @return all of the granted authorities the specified username and password have access to.
     *
     * @throws RemoteAuthenticationException if the authentication failed.
     */
    Collection<GrantedAuthority> attemptAuthentication(String username, String password)
        throws RemoteAuthenticationException;
}
