[ecf-dev] user authentication and user dependent services

[Peter Hermsdorf <peter.hermsdorf@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I have a use case, where a client/consumer needs to authenticate at the 
server/provider and the actual service implementation on the server 
needs the authentication information (at least the username) when called.

My current solution is to make the username part of the API. eg.

String myService(String username, String otherparameters);

But it would be nice to have access to the actual Authentication 
information of the caller to use them.

I have implemented a custom HostContainerSelector which registers a 
IConnectHandlerPolicy to handle to authentication. But I have no idea on 
how to access them in my service implementation (probably I need to call 
some ECF API....)

The use case is access control, eg. depending on your username/login you 
can "see" different content. When making the username part of the API a 
authenticated client could pretend being someone else by just calling 
the service with a different username.

I could imagine a kind of wrapper code on server side which intercept 
the service call and "substitutes" the username in the service call 
before the actual service is called. This would have the benefit of 
decoupling this authentication/user handling stuff from the actual 
service implementation. (the service wouldn't need to know anything 
about ECF and user management)

Thanks for any hints and ideas!

greets, peter