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 an 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.
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	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 Object clone() Creates and returns a copy of this Object. boolean equals(Object o) Compares this instance with the specified object and indicates if they are equal. void finalize() Called before the object's memory is reclaimed by the VM. final Class<? extends Object> getClass() Returns the unique instance of Class that represents this object's class. int hashCode() Returns an integer hash code for this object. final void notify() Causes a thread which is waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up. final void notifyAll() Causes all threads which are waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up. String toString() Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object. final void wait() Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object. final void wait(long millis, int nanos) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires. final void wait(long millis) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.