KAuth::Action Class Reference

Class to access, authorize and execute actions. More...

#include <kauthaction.h>

Public Types
enum	AuthStatus { Denied, Error, Invalid, Authorized, AuthRequired, UserCancelled }
Public Member Functions
	Action (const QString &name, const QString &details)
	Action (const QString &name)
	Action (const Action &action)
	Action ()
	~Action ()
void	addArgument (const QString &key, const QVariant &value)
QVariantMap	arguments () const
AuthStatus	authorize () const
QString	details () const
ActionReply	execute (const QString &helperID) const
ActionReply	execute () const
bool	executesAsync () const
QString	helperID () const
bool	isValid () const
QString	name () const
bool	operator!= (const Action &action)
Action &	operator= (const Action &action)
bool	operator== (const Action &action)
void	setArguments (const QVariantMap &arguments)
void	setDetails (const QString &details)
void	setExecutesAsync (bool async)
void	setHelperID (const QString &id)
void	setName (const QString &name)
AuthStatus	status () const
void	stop (const QString &helperID)
void	stop ()
ActionWatcher *	watcher ()
Static Public Member Functions
static bool	executeActions (const QList< Action > &actions, QList< Action > *deniedActions, const QString &helper_id)

Detailed Description

Class to access, authorize and execute actions.

This is the main class of the kauth API. It provides the interface to manipulate actions. Every action is identified by its name. Every instance of the Action class with the same name refers to the same action.

Once you have an action object you can tell the helper to execute it (asking the user to authenticate if needed) with one of the execute*() methods. The simplest thing to do is to execute a single action synchronously blocking for the reply, using the execute() method.

For asynchronous calls, use the executeAsync() method. It sends the request to the helper and returns immediately. You can optionally provide an object and a slot. This will be connected to the actionPerformed() signal of the action's ActionWatcher object. By calling the watcher() method, you obtain an object that emits some useful signals that you can receive while the action is in progress. Those signals are emitted also with the synchronous calls. To execute a bunch of actions with a single call, you can use the executeActions() static method. This is not the same as calling executeAsync() for each action, because the actions are execute with a single request to the helper. To use any of the execute*() methods you have to set the default helper's ID using the setHelperID() static method. Alternatively, you can specify the helperID using the overloaded version of the methods that takes it as a parameter.

Each action object contains a QVariantMap object that is passed directly to the helper when the action is executed. You can access this map using the arguments() method. You can insert into it any kind of custom data you need to pass to the helper.

Since:: 4.4

Definition at line 69 of file kauthaction.h.

Member Enumeration Documentation

enum KAuth::Action::AuthStatus

The three values returned by authorization methods.

Enumerator:

Denied	The authorization has been denied by the authorization backend.
Error	An error occurred.
Invalid	An invalid action cannot be authorized.
Authorized	The authorization has been granted by the authorization backend.
AuthRequired	The user could obtain the authorization after authentication.
UserCancelled	The user pressed Cancel the authentication dialog. Currently used only on the mac.

Definition at line 78 of file kauthaction.h.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

Action::Action ( )

Default constructor.

This constructor sets the name to the empty string. Such an action is invalid and cannot be authorized nor executed, so you need to call setName() before you can use the object.

Definition at line 47 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::Action ( const Action & action )

Copy constructor.

Definition at line 52 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::Action ( const QString & name )

This creates a new action object with this name.

Parameters:

name

The name of the new action

Definition at line 58 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::Action	(	const QString &	name,
		const QString &	details
	)

This creates a new action object with this name and details.

Parameters:

	name	The name of the new action
	details	The details of the action

See also:: setDetails

Definition at line 65 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::~Action ( )

Virtual destructor.

Definition at line 73 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Member Function Documentation

void Action::addArgument	(	const QString &	key,
		const QVariant &	value
	)

Convenience method to add an argument.

This method adds the pair key/value to the QVariantMap used to send custom data to the helper.

Use this method if you don't want to create a new QVariantMap only to add a new entry.

Parameters:

	key	The new entry's key
	value	The value of the new entry

Definition at line 131 of file kauthaction.cpp.

QVariantMap Action::arguments ( ) const

Returns map object used to pass arguments to the helper.

This method returns the variant map that the application can use to pass arbitrary data to the helper when executing the action.

Returns:: The arguments map that will be passed to the helper.

Definition at line 136 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::AuthStatus Action::authorize ( ) const

Acquires authorization for an action without excuting it.

This method acquires the authorization rights for the action, asking the user to authenticate if needed.

The result of this method is strictly related to the result of status(). If it returns Action::Denied or Action::Authorized, this method will always return the same. Instead, if the status() result was Action::AuthRequired, the method would ask the user to authenticate. The Action::UserCancelled value is intended to be returned when the authentication fails because the user purposely cancelled it. Unfortunately, this isn't currently supported by policykit, so instead you'll get a Denied result in this case. The Mac OS X backend will return UserCancelled when appropriate.

It's not so common to use this method directly, because it's already called by any of the execute methods. Use it only if you need to acquire the authorization long time before the execution, for example if you want to enable some GUI elements after user authentication.

Returns:: The result of the authorization process

Definition at line 158 of file kauthaction.cpp.

QString Action::details ( ) const

Gets the action's details.

The details that will be shown in the authorization dialog, if the backend supports it.

Returns:: The action's details

Definition at line 111 of file kauthaction.cpp.

ActionReply Action::execute ( const QString & helperID ) const

Synchronously executes the action with a specific helperID.

This method does the exact same thing as execute(), but it takes a specific helperID, useful if you don't want to use the default one without changing it with setHelperID()

Parameters:

helperID

The helper ID to use for the execution of this action

Returns:: The reply from the helper, or an error if something's wrong.

Definition at line 213 of file kauthaction.cpp.

ActionReply Action::execute ( ) const

Synchronously executes the action.

This is the simpler of all the action execution methods. It sends an execution request to the caller, and returns the reply directly to the caller. The ActionReply object will contain the custom data coming from the helper.

The method blocks the execution, and will return only when the action has been completed (or failed). Take note, however, that with the dbus helper proxy (currently the only one implemented on all the supported platforms), the request is sent using the QDBus::BlockWithGui flag.

This means the method will enter a local eventloop to wait for the reply. This allows the application GUI to stay responsive, but you have to be prepared to receive other events in the meantime.

All the signals from the ActionWatcher class are emitted also with this method (although they're more useful with the asynchronous calls)

The method checks for authorization before to execute the action. If the user is not authorized, the return value will be ActionReply::AuthorizationDeniedReply. If the user cancels the authentication, the return value should be ActionReply::UserCancelledReply. Due to policykit limitations, this currently only with the Mac OS X backend.

If the helper is busy executing another action (or action group) the reply will be ActionReply::HelperBusyReply

If the request cannot be sent for bus errors, the method returns ActionReply::DBusErrorReply.

Returns:: The reply from the helper, or an error reply if something's wrong.

Definition at line 205 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::executeActions	(	const QList< Action > &	actions,
		QList< Action > *	deniedActions,
		const QString &	helper_id
	)			`[static]`

Asynchronously executes a group of actions with a single request.

This method executes each action in the list. It checks for authorization of each action, and put the denied actions, if any, in the list pointed by the deniedActions parameter, if not NULL.

Please note that with the dbus helper proxy (currently the only one implemented), the execution of a group of actions is very different from executing in sequence each action using, for example, executeAsync(). Currently, the helper can execute only one request at the time. For this reason, if you have to call different actions in sequence, you can't call executeAsync() like this:

 action1.executeAsync();
 action2.executeAsync();

because the second call will almost certainly return ActionReply::HelperBusy. You would have to execute the second action in the slot connected to the first action's actionPerformed() signal. This is not so good. This method allows the application to send a request with a list of actions. With this method, the code above becomes:

 QList<Action> list;
 list << action1 << action2;
 Action::executeActions(list);

The return value will be false if communication errors occur. It will also be false if all the actions in the list are denied.

Parameters:

	actions	The list of actions to execute
	deniedActions	A pointer to a list to fill with the denied actions. Pass NULL if you don't need them.
	helperID	The helper ID to execute the actions on.

Definition at line 175 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::executesAsync ( ) const

Definition at line 195 of file kauthaction.cpp.

QString Action::helperID ( ) const

Gets the default helper ID used for actions execution.

The helper ID is the string that uniquely identifies the helper in the system. It is the string passed to the KDE4_AUTH_HELPER() macro in the helper source. Because one could have different helpers, you need to specify an helper ID for each execution, or set a default ID by calling setHelperID(). This method returns the current default value.

Returns:: The default helper ID.

Definition at line 146 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::isValid ( ) const

Returns if the object represents a valid action.

Action names have to respect a simple syntax. They have to be all in lowercase characters, separated by dots. Dots can't appear at the beginning and at the end of the name.

In other words, the action name has to match this perl-like regular expression:

     * /^[a-z]+(\.[a-z]+)*$/
     *

This method returns false if the action name doesn't match the valid syntax.

Invalid actions cannot be authorized nor executed. The empty string is not a valid action name, so the default constructor returns an invalid action.

Definition at line 121 of file kauthaction.cpp.

QString Action::name ( ) const

Gets the action's name.

This is the unique attribute that identifies an action object. Two action objects with the same name always refer to the same action.

Returns:: The action name

Definition at line 98 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::operator!= ( const Action & action )

Negated comparison operator.

Returns the negation of operator==

Returns:: true if the two actions are different and not both invalid

Definition at line 92 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action & Action::operator= ( const Action & action )

Assignment operator.

Definition at line 79 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::operator== ( const Action & action )

Comparison operator.

This comparison operator compares the names of two actions and returns whether they are the same. It does not care about the arguments stored in the actions. However, if two actions are invalid they'll match as equal, even if the invalid names are different.

Returns:: true if the two actions are the same or both invalid

Definition at line 87 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setArguments ( const QVariantMap & arguments )

Sets the map object used to pass arguments to the helper.

This method sets the variant map that the application can use to pass arbitrary data to the helper when executing the action.

Parameters:

arguments

The new arguments map

Definition at line 126 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setDetails ( const QString & details )

Sets the action's details.

You can use this function to provide the user more details (if the backend supports it) on the action being authorized in the authorization dialog

Definition at line 116 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setExecutesAsync ( bool async )

Definition at line 200 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setHelperID ( const QString & id )

Sets the default helper ID used for actions execution.

Parameters:

id

The default helper ID.

Definition at line 152 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setName ( const QString & name )

Sets the action's name.

It's not common to change the action name after its creation. Usually you set the name with the constructor (and you have to, because there's no default constructor)

Definition at line 103 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::AuthStatus Action::status ( ) const

Gets information about the authorization status of an action.

This methods query the authorization backend to know if the user can try to acquire the authorization for this action. If the result is Action::AuthRequired, the user can try to acquire the authorization by authenticating.

It should not be needed to call this method directly, because the execution methods already take care of all the authorization stuff.

Returns:: Action::Denied if the user doesn't have the authorization to execute the action, Action::Authorized if the action can be executed, Action::AuthRequired if the user could acquire the authorization after authentication, Action::UserCancelled if the user cancels the authentication dialog. Not currently supported by the Polkit backend

Definition at line 166 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::stop ( const QString & helperID )

Ask the helper to stop executing an action, using a specific helper ID.

This method works exactly as the stop() method, but it lets you specify an helper ID different from the default one.

To stop an action you need to send the stop request to the helper that is executing that action. This of course means you have to use the same helperID used for the execution call (either passed as a parameter or set as default with setHelperID() )

Definition at line 247 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::stop ( )

Ask the helper to stop executing an action.

This method sends a request to the helper asking to stop the execution of an action. It is only useful for long-running actions, because short and fast actions won't obbey to this request most of the times. Calling this method will make the HelperSupport::isStopped() method to return true the next time it's called.

It's the helper's responsibility to regularly call it and exit if requested The actionPerformed() signal is emitted normally because, actually, the helper exists regularly. The return data in this case is application-dependent.

Definition at line 242 of file kauthaction.cpp.

ActionWatcher * Action::watcher ( )

Gets the ActionWatcher object for this action.

ActionWatcher objects are used to get notifications about the action execution status. Every action watcher is tied to an action and every action has a watcher. This means that if you call this method on two different Action objects with the same name, you'll get the same watcher object.

Returns:: The action watcher for this action

Definition at line 141 of file kauthaction.cpp.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

KDECore

KAuth::Action Class Reference

Public Types

Public Member Functions

Static Public Member Functions

Detailed Description

Member Enumeration Documentation

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

Member Function Documentation

KDECore

kdelibs