alfresco-community-repo/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/security/sync/UserRegistrySynchronizer.java

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2005-2010 Alfresco Software Limited.
 *
 * This file is part of Alfresco
 *
 * Alfresco is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * Alfresco is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 * along with Alfresco. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
package org.alfresco.repo.security.sync;

import java.util.Set;

import org.alfresco.service.namespace.QName;

/**
 * A <code>UserRegistrySynchronizer</code> is responsible for synchronizing Alfresco's local user (person) and group
 * (authority) information with one or more external sources (most typically LDAP directories).
 * 
 * @author dward
 */
public interface UserRegistrySynchronizer
{
    /**
     * Creates a person object for a successfully authenticated user who does not yet have a person object, if allowed
     * to by configuration. Depending on configuration, may trigger a partial synchronize and/or create a new person
     * with default settings.
     * 
     * @param username
     *            the user name
     * @return true, if a person is created
     */
    public boolean createMissingPerson(String username);

    /**
     * Retrieves timestamped user and group information from configured external sources and compares it with the local
     * users and groups last retrieved from the same sources. Any updates and additions made to those users and groups
     * are applied to the local Alfresco copies.
     * 
     * @param forceUpdate
     *            Should the complete set of users and groups be updated / created locally or just those known to have
     *            changed since the last sync? When <code>true</code> then <i>all</i> users and groups are queried from
     *            the user registry and updated locally. When <code>false</code> then each source is only queried for
     *            those users and groups modified since the most recent modification date of all the objects last
     *            queried from that same source.
     * @param isFullSync
     *            Should a complete set of user and group IDs be queried from the user registries in order to determine
     *            deletions? This parameter is independent of <code>force</code> as a separate query is run to process
     *            updates.
     * @param splitTxns
     *            Can the modifications to Alfresco be split across multiple transactions for maximum performance? If
     *            <code>true</code>, users and groups are created/updated in batches of 10 for increased performance. If
     *            <code>false</code>, all users and groups are processed in the current transaction. This is required if
     *            calling synchronously (e.g. in response to an authentication event in the same transaction).
     */
    public void synchronize(boolean forceUpdate, boolean isFullSync, boolean splitTxns);
    
    /**
     * Gets the set of property names that are auto-mapped for the user with the given user name. These should remain
     * read-only for the user in the UI.
     * 
     * @return the person mapped properties
     */
    public Set<QName> getPersonMappedProperties(String username);
    
}