Module jakarta.mail
Package jakarta.mail

Class Authenticator

java.lang.Object
jakarta.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.

See Also:

  • Field Details

    • requestingSite

      private InetAddress requestingSite

    • requestingPort

      private int requestingPort

    • requestingProtocol

      private String requestingProtocol

    • requestingPrompt

      private String requestingPrompt

    • requestingUserName

      private String requestingUserName

  • Constructor Details

    • Authenticator

      public Authenticator()
      Creates a default Authenticator. There are no abstract methods, but to be useful the user must subclass.
      See Also:

  • Method Details

    • requestPasswordAuthentication

      final PasswordAuthentication requestPasswordAuthentication(InetAddress addr, int port, String protocol, String prompt, String defaultUserName)
      Ask the authenticator for a password.

      Parameters:
      addr - The InetAddress of the site requesting authorization, or null if not known.
      port - the port for the requested connection
      protocol - The protocol that's requesting the connection (@see java.net.Authenticator.getProtocol())
      prompt - A prompt string for the user
      Returns:
      The username/password, or null if one can't be gotten.

    • 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:

    • 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.