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Android APIs
public abstract class

AbstractAccountAuthenticator

extends Object
java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.accounts.AbstractAccountAuthenticator

Class Overview

Abstract base class for creating AccountAuthenticators. In order to be an authenticator one must extend this class, provider implementations for the abstract methods and write a service that returns the result of getIBinder() in the service's onBind(android.content.Intent) when invoked with an intent with action ACTION_AUTHENTICATOR_INTENT . This service must specify the following intent filter and metadata tags in its AndroidManifest.xml file 

        <intent-filter>
     <action android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator" />
   </intent-filter>
   <meta-data android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator"
             android:resource="@xml/authenticator" />
The android:resource attribute must point to a resource that looks like: 
        <account-authenticator xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:accountType="typeOfAuthenticator"
    android:icon="@drawable/icon"
    android:smallIcon="@drawable/miniIcon"
    android:label="@string/label"
    android:accountPreferences="@xml/account_preferences"
 />
Replace the icons and labels with your own resources. The android:accountType attribute must be a string that uniquely identifies your authenticator and will be the same string that user will use when making calls on the AccountManager and it also corresponds to type for your accounts. One user of the android:icon is the "Account & Sync" settings page and one user of the android:smallIcon is the Contact Application's tab panels.

The preferences attribute points to a PreferenceScreen xml hierarchy that contains a list of PreferenceScreens that can be invoked to manage the authenticator. An example is: 

        <PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <PreferenceCategory android:title="@string/title_fmt" />
    <PreferenceScreen
         android:key="key1"
         android:title="@string/key1_action"
         android:summary="@string/key1_summary">
         <intent
             android:action="key1.ACTION"
             android:targetPackage="key1.package"
             android:targetClass="key1.class" />
     </PreferenceScreen>
 </PreferenceScreen>

The standard pattern for implementing any of the abstract methods is the following:

  • If the supplied arguments are enough for the authenticator to fully satisfy the request then it will do so and return a Bundle that contains the results.
  • If the authenticator needs information from the user to satisfy the request then it will create an Intent to an activity that will prompt the user for the information and then carry out the request. This intent must be returned in a Bundle as key KEY_INTENT .

    The activity needs to return the final result when it is complete so the Intent should contain the AccountAuthenticatorResponse as KEY_ACCOUNT_MANAGER_RESPONSE . The activity must then call onResult(Bundle) or onError(int, String) when it is complete.

  • If the authenticator cannot synchronously process the request and return a result then it may choose to return null and then use the AccountManagerResponse to send the result when it has completed the request.

The following descriptions of each of the abstract authenticator methods will not describe the possible asynchronous nature of the request handling and will instead just describe the input parameters and the expected result.

When writing an activity to satisfy these requests one must pass in the AccountManagerResponse and return the result via that response when the activity finishes (or whenever else the activity author deems it is the correct time to respond). The AccountAuthenticatorActivity handles this, so one may wish to extend that when writing activities to handle these requests.

Summary

Public Constructors
AbstractAccountAuthenticator ( Context context)
Public Methods
abstract Bundle addAccount ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, String accountType, String authTokenType, String[] requiredFeatures, Bundle options)
Adds an account of the specified accountType.
Bundle addAccountFromCredentials ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, Bundle accountCredentials)
Creates an account based on credentials provided by the authenticator instance of another user on the device, who has chosen to share the account with this user.
abstract Bundle confirmCredentials ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, Bundle options)
Checks that the user knows the credentials of an account.
abstract Bundle editProperties ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, String accountType)
Returns a Bundle that contains the Intent of the activity that can be used to edit the properties.
Bundle getAccountCredentialsForCloning ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account)
Returns a Bundle that contains whatever is required to clone the account on a different user.
Bundle getAccountRemovalAllowed ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account)
Checks if the removal of this account is allowed.
abstract Bundle getAuthToken ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, String authTokenType, Bundle options)
Gets the authtoken for an account.
abstract String getAuthTokenLabel ( String authTokenType)
Ask the authenticator for a localized label for the given authTokenType.
final IBinder getIBinder ()
abstract Bundle hasFeatures ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, String[] features)
Checks if the account supports all the specified authenticator specific features.
abstract Bundle updateCredentials ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, String authTokenType, Bundle options)
Update the locally stored credentials for an account.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object

Public Constructors

public AbstractAccountAuthenticator ( Context context)

Added in API level 5

Public Methods

public abstract Bundle addAccount ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, String accountType, String authTokenType, String[] requiredFeatures, Bundle options)

Added in API level 5

Adds an account of the specified accountType.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
accountType the type of account to add, will never be null
authTokenType the type of auth token to retrieve after adding the account, may be null
requiredFeatures a String array of authenticator-specific features that the added account must support, may be null
options a Bundle of authenticator-specific options, may be null
Returns
Throws
NetworkErrorException if the authenticator could not honor the request due to a network error

public Bundle addAccountFromCredentials ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, Bundle accountCredentials)

Creates an account based on credentials provided by the authenticator instance of another user on the device, who has chosen to share the account with this user.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account to clone, will never be null
accountCredentials the Bundle containing the required credentials to create the account. Contents of the Bundle are only meaningful to the authenticator. This Bundle is provided by getAccountCredentialsForCloning(AccountAuthenticatorResponse, Account) .
Returns
  • a Bundle result or null if the result is to be returned via the response.
Throws
NetworkErrorException
NetworkErrorException
See Also

public abstract Bundle confirmCredentials ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, Bundle options)

Added in API level 5

Checks that the user knows the credentials of an account.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account whose credentials are to be checked, will never be null
options a Bundle of authenticator-specific options, may be null
Returns
Throws
NetworkErrorException if the authenticator could not honor the request due to a network error

public abstract Bundle editProperties ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, String accountType)

Added in API level 5

Returns a Bundle that contains the Intent of the activity that can be used to edit the properties. In order to indicate success the activity should call response.setResult() with a non-null Bundle.

Parameters
response used to set the result for the request. If the Constants.INTENT_KEY is set in the bundle then this response field is to be used for sending future results if and when the Intent is started.
accountType the AccountType whose properties are to be edited.
Returns
  • a Bundle containing the result or the Intent to start to continue the request. If this is null then the request is considered to still be active and the result should sent later using response.

public Bundle getAccountCredentialsForCloning ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account)

Returns a Bundle that contains whatever is required to clone the account on a different user. The Bundle is passed to the authenticator instance in the target user via addAccountFromCredentials(AccountAuthenticatorResponse, Account, Bundle) . The default implementation returns null, indicating that cloning is not supported.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account to clone, will never be null
Returns
  • a Bundle result or null if the result is to be returned via the response.
Throws
NetworkErrorException
NetworkErrorException
See Also

public Bundle getAccountRemovalAllowed ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account)

Added in API level 5

Checks if the removal of this account is allowed.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account to check, will never be null
Returns
Throws
NetworkErrorException if the authenticator could not honor the request due to a network error

public abstract Bundle getAuthToken ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, String authTokenType, Bundle options)

Added in API level 5

Gets the authtoken for an account.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account whose credentials are to be retrieved, will never be null
authTokenType the type of auth token to retrieve, will never be null
options a Bundle of authenticator-specific options, may be null
Returns
Throws
NetworkErrorException if the authenticator could not honor the request due to a network error

public abstract String getAuthTokenLabel ( String authTokenType)

Added in API level 5

Ask the authenticator for a localized label for the given authTokenType.

Parameters
authTokenType the authTokenType whose label is to be returned, will never be null
Returns
  • the localized label of the auth token type, may be null if the type isn't known

public final IBinder getIBinder ()

Added in API level 5

Returns
  • the IBinder for the AccountAuthenticator

public abstract Bundle hasFeatures ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, String[] features)

Added in API level 5

Checks if the account supports all the specified authenticator specific features.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account to check, will never be null
features an array of features to check, will never be null
Returns
Throws
NetworkErrorException if the authenticator could not honor the request due to a network error

public abstract Bundle updateCredentials ( AccountAuthenticatorResponse response, Account account, String authTokenType, Bundle options)

Added in API level 5

Update the locally stored credentials for an account.

Parameters
response to send the result back to the AccountManager, will never be null
account the account whose credentials are to be updated, will never be null
authTokenType the type of auth token to retrieve after updating the credentials, may be null
options a Bundle of authenticator-specific options, may be null
Returns
Throws
NetworkErrorException if the authenticator could not honor the request due to a network error