#include <kauthaction.h>

Public Types
enum	AuthStatus { Denied, Error, Invalid, Authorized, AuthRequired, UserCancelled }

Public Member Functions
	Action ()

	Action (const Action &action)

	Action (const QString &name)

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

	~Action ()

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

QVariantMap	arguments () const

AuthStatus	authorize () const

QString	details () const

AuthStatus	earlyAuthorize () const

ActionReply	execute () const

ActionReply	execute (const QString &helperID) const

bool	executesAsync () const

bool	hasHelper () const

QString	helperID () const

bool	isValid () const

QString	name () const

bool	operator!= (const Action &action) const

Action &	operator= (const Action &action)

bool	operator== (const Action &action) const

QWidget *	parentWidget () const

void	setArguments (const QVariantMap &arguments)

void	setDetails (const QString &details)

void	setExecutesAsync (bool async)

void	setHelperID (const QString &id)

void	setName (const QString &name)

void	setParentWidget (QWidget *parent)

AuthStatus	status () const

void	stop ()

void	stop (const QString &helperID)

ActionWatcher *	watcher ()

Static Public Member Functions
static bool	executeActions (const QList< Action > &actions, QList< Action > *deniedActions, const QString &helperId)

static bool	executeActions (const QList< Action > &actions, QList< Action > deniedActions, const QString &helperId, QWidget parent)

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 138 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 143 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::AuthStatus Action::authorize ( ) const

Acquires authorization for an action without excuting it.

Note: Please use this method if you really know what you are doing. If you are implementing a GUI, you probably should look into earlyAuthorize instead.; Please remember that calling this method is not required for a successful action execution: it is safe and advised to call execute() only, without a previous call to authorize or earlyAuthorize.

This method acquires the authorization rights for the action, asking the user to authenticate if needed. It tries very hard to resolve a possible challenge (AuthRequired); for this reason, it is meant only for advanced usages. If you are unsure, always use earlyAuthorize or execute the action directly.

Returns: The result of the authorization process

See also: earlyAuthorize

Definition at line 176 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 118 of file kauthaction.cpp.

Action::AuthStatus Action::earlyAuthorize ( ) const

Tries to resolve authorization status in the best possible way without executing the action.

This method checks for the status of the action, and tries to acquire authorization (if needed) if the backend being used supports client-side authorization.

This means this method is not reliable - its purpose is to provide user interfaces with an efficient means to acquire authorization as early as possible, without interrupting the user's workflow. If the backend's authentication phase happens in the helper and the action requires authentication, Authorized will be returned.

The main difference with authorize is that this method does not try to acquire authorization if the backend's authentication phase happens in the helper: using authorize in such a case might lead to ask the user its password twice, as the helper might time out, or in the case of a one shot authorization, the scope of the authorization would end with the authorization check itself. For this reason, you should always use this method instead of authorize, which is meant only for very advanced usages.

This method is always safe to be called and used before an execution, even if not needed.

Since: 4.5

Returns: The result of the early authorization process, with the caveats described above.

Definition at line 211 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 D-Bus 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 296 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 304 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::executeActions	(	const QList< Action > &	actions,
		QList< Action > *	deniedActions,
		const QString &	helperId
	)

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 D-Bus 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 248 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::executeActions	(	const QList< Action > &	actions,
		QList< Action > *	deniedActions,
		const QString &	helperId,
		QWidget *	parent
	)

static

Convenience overload.

This overload lets you specify, in addition, a QWidget which will be used as the authentication dialog's parent.

Since: 4.6

See also: executeActions; setParentWidget

Definition at line 253 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::executesAsync ( ) const

Definition at line 286 of file kauthaction.cpp.

bool Action::hasHelper ( ) const

Checks if the action has an helper.

This function can be used to check if an helper will be called upon the execution of an action. Such an helper can be set through setHelperID. If this function returns false, upon execution the action will be just authorized.

Since: 4.5

Returns: Whether the action has an helper or not

See also: setHelperID

Definition at line 389 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 153 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.

If the backend supports it, this method also checks if the action is valid and recognized by the backend itself.

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 128 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 ) const

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 ) const

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.

QWidget * Action::parentWidget ( ) const

Returns the parent widget for the authentication dialog for this action.

Since: 4.6

Returns: A QWidget which will is being used as the dialog's parent

Definition at line 169 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 133 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 123 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setExecutesAsync ( bool async )

Definition at line 291 of file kauthaction.cpp.

void Action::setHelperID ( const QString & id )

Sets the default helper ID used for actions execution.

This method sets the helper ID which contains the body of this action. If the string is non-empty, the corresponding helper will be fired and the action executed inside the helper. Otherwise, the action will be just authorized.

Note: To unset a previously set helper, just pass an empty string

Parameters

id	The default helper ID.

See also: hasHelper; helperID

Definition at line 159 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.

void Action::setParentWidget ( QWidget * parent )

Sets a parent widget for the authentication dialog.

This function is used for explicitly setting a parent window for an eventual authentication dialog required when authorization is triggered. Some backends, in fact, (like polkit-1) need to have a parent explicitly set for displaying the dialog correctly.

Note: If you are using KAuth through one of KDE's GUI components (KPushButton, KCModule...) you do not need and should not call this function, as it is already done by the component itself.

Since: 4.6

Parameters

parent A QWidget which will be used as the dialog's parent

Definition at line 164 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 238 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 379 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 384 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 148 of file kauthaction.cpp.

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

KDECore

Public Types

Public Member Functions

Static Public Member Functions

Detailed Description

Member Enumeration Documentation

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

Member Function Documentation

KDECore

kdelibs API Reference

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