JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.3.1

java.security
Class AccessControlContext

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--java.security.AccessControlContext

public final class AccessControlContext
extends Object

An AccessControlContext is used to make system resource access decisions based on the context it encapsulates.

More specifically, it encapsulates a context and has a single method, checkPermission, that is equivalent to the checkPermission method in the AccessController class, with one difference: The AccessControlContext checkPermission method makes access decisions based on the context it encapsulates, rather than that of the current execution thread.

Thus, the purpose of AccessControlContext is for those situations where a security check that should be made within a given context actually needs to be done from within a different context (for example, from within a worker thread).

An AccessControlContext is created by calling the AccessController.getContext method. The getContext method takes a "snapshot" of the current calling context, and places it in an AccessControlContext object, which it returns. A sample call is the following:

 
   AccessControlContext acc = AccessController.getContext()
 
 

Code within a different context can subsequently call the checkPermission method on the previously-saved AccessControlContext object. A sample call is the following:

 
   acc.checkPermission(permission)
 
 

See Also:
AccessController

Constructor Summary
AccessControlContext(AccessControlContext acc, DomainCombiner combiner)
          Create a new AccessControlContext with the given AccessControlContext and DomainCombiner.
AccessControlContext(ProtectionDomain[] context)
          Create an AccessControlContext with the given set of ProtectionDomains.
 
Method Summary
 void checkPermission(Permission perm)
          Determines whether the access request indicated by the specified permission should be allowed or denied, based on the security policy currently in effect, and the context in this object.
 boolean equals(Object obj)
          Checks two AccessControlContext objects for equality.
 DomainCombiner getDomainCombiner()
          Get the DomainCombiner associated with this AccessControlContext.
 int hashCode()
          Returns the hash code value for this context.
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

AccessControlContext

public AccessControlContext(ProtectionDomain[] context)
Create an AccessControlContext with the given set of ProtectionDomains. Context must not be null. Duplicate domains will be removed from the context.
Parameters:
context - the ProtectionDomains associated with this context.

AccessControlContext

public AccessControlContext(AccessControlContext acc,
                            DomainCombiner combiner)
Create a new AccessControlContext with the given AccessControlContext and DomainCombiner. This constructor associates the provided DomainCombiner with the provided AccessControlContext.

Parameters:
acc - the AccessControlContext associated with the provided DomainCombiner.

combiner - the DomainCombiner to be associated with the provided AccessControlContext.
Throws:
NullPointerException - if either the provided context or the provided combiner are null.

SecurityException - if the caller does not have permission to invoke this constructor.
Method Detail

getDomainCombiner

public DomainCombiner getDomainCombiner()
Get the DomainCombiner associated with this AccessControlContext.

Returns:
the DomainCombiner associated with this AccessControlContext, or null if there is none.
Throws:
SecurityException - if the caller does not have permission to get the DomainCombiner associated with this AccessControlContext.

checkPermission

public void checkPermission(Permission perm)
                     throws AccessControlException
Determines whether the access request indicated by the specified permission should be allowed or denied, based on the security policy currently in effect, and the context in this object.

This method quietly returns if the access request is permitted, or throws a suitable AccessControlException otherwise.

Parameters:
perm - the requested permission.
Throws:
AccessControlException - if the specified permission is not permitted, based on the current security policy and the context encapsulated by this object.
NullPointerException - if the permission to check for is null.

equals

public boolean equals(Object obj)
Checks two AccessControlContext objects for equality. Checks that obj is an AccessControlContext and has the same set of ProtectionDomains as this context.

Overrides:
equals in class Object
Parameters:
obj - the object we are testing for equality with this object.
Returns:
true if obj is an AccessControlContext, and has the same set of ProtectionDomains as this context, false otherwise.

hashCode

public int hashCode()
Returns the hash code value for this context. The hash code is computed by exclusive or-ing the hash code of all the protection domains in the context together.
Overrides:
hashCode in class Object
Returns:
a hash code value for this context.

JavaTM 2 Platform
Std. Ed. v1.3.1

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

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