NAME

       Catalyst::Authentication::Realm - Base class for realm objects.

DESCRIPTION

CONFIGURATION

       class
           By default this class is used by Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication for all realms. The
           class parameter allows you to choose a different class to use for this realm. Creating
           a new Realm class can allow for authentication methods that fall outside the normal
           credential/store methodology.

       auto_create_user
           Set this to true if you wish this realm to auto-create user accounts when the user
           doesn't exist (most useful for remote authentication schemes).

       auto_update_user
           Set this to true if you wish this realm to auto-update user accounts after
           authentication (most useful for remote authentication schemes).

       use_session
           Sets session usage for this particular realm - overriding the global use_sesion
           setting.

METHODS

   new( $realmname, $config, $app )
       Instantiantes this realm, plus the specified store and credential classes.

   store( )
       Returns an instance of the store object for this realm.

   credential( )
       Returns an instance of the credential object for this realm.

   find_user( $authinfo, $c )
       Retrieves the user given the authentication information provided.  This is most often
       called from the credential.  The default realm class simply delegates this call the store
       object.  If enabled, auto-creation and auto-updating of users is also handled here.

   authenticate( $c, $authinfo)
       Performs the authentication process for the current realm.  The default realm class simply
       delegates this to the credential and sets the authenticated user on success.  Returns the
       authenticated user object;

USER PERSISTENCE

       The Realm class allows complete control over the persistance of users between requests.
       By default the realm attempts to use the Catalyst session system to accomplish this.  By
       overriding the methods below in a custom Realm class, however, you can handle user
       persistance in any way you see fit.

   persist_user($c, $user)
       persist_user is the entry point for saving user information between requests in most cases
       this will utilize the session.  By default this uses the catalyst session system to store
       the user by calling for_session on the active store.  The user object must be a subclass
       of Catalyst::Authentication::User.  If you have updated the user object, you must call
       persist_user again to ensure that the persisted user object reflects your updates.

   remove_persisted_user($c)
       Removes any persisted user data.  By default, removes the user from the session.

   user_is_restorable( $c )
       Returns whether there is a persisted user that may be restored.  Returns a token used to
       restore the user.  With the default session persistance it returns the raw frozen user
       information.

   restore_user($c, [$frozen_user])
       Restores the user from the given frozen_user parameter, or if not provided, using the
       response from $self->user_is_restorable();  Uses $self->from_session() to decode the
       frozen user.

   failed_user_restore($c)
       If there is a session to restore, but the restore fails for any reason then this method is
       called. This method supplied just removes the persisted user, but can be overridden if
       required to have more complex logic (e.g. finding a the user by their 'old' username).

   from_session($c, $frozenuser )
       Decodes the frozenuser information provided and returns an instantiated user object.  By
       default, this call is delegated to $store->from_session().

   save_user_in_session($c, $user)
       DEPRECATED.  Use persist_user instead.  (this simply calls persist_user)