The Feed Object Model

The Feed Object Model is the set of objects you will use to interact with Atom documents. It contains classes such as "Feed", "Entry", "Person" etc, all of which are modeled closely after the various elements and documents defined by the two Atom specifications. The Javadocs for the Feed Object Model can be found here.

Extensions

Extensions to the Atom format can either be dynamic or static. A dynamic extensions use a generic API for setting and getting elements and attributes of the extension.

An extension element in an entry

<entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <mylist xmlns="http://example.org" name="listName">
    <value>one</value>
    <value>two</value>
  </mylist>
</entry>

Using the dynamic API to add the extension to an entry

ExtensibleElement e = entry.addExtension(MYLIST_QNAME);
e.setAttributeValue("name", "listName");
e.addSimpleExtension(VALUE_QNAME,"one");
e.addSimpleExtension(VALUE_QNAME,"two");

Or you can implement a static extension. Implement a class that extends the ExtensibleElementWrapper class. Implement an ExtensionFactory for it. Register the ExtensionFactory with Abdera. Code below.

foo/MyListElement.java

package foo;
import javax.xml.namespace.QName;

import org.apache.abdera.factory.Factory;
import org.apache.abdera.model.Element;
import org.apache.abdera.model.ExtensibleElementWrapper;

public class MyListElement
  extends ExtensibleElementWrapper {
  public static final String NS = "http://example.org";
  public static final QName MYLIST =
    new QName("http://example.org","mylist");
  public static final QName VALUE =
    new QName("http://example.org","value");
  public MyListElement(Element internal) {
    super(internal);
  }
  public MyListElement(Factory factory, QName qname) {
    super(factory, qname);
  }
  public void setName(String name) {
    setAttributeValue("listName",name);
  }
  public void addValue(String value) {
    addSimpleExtension(VALUE, value);
  }
}

foo/MyListExtensionFactory.java

package foo;
import org.apache.abdera.util.AbstractExtensionFactory;

public class MyListExtensionFactory
  extends AbstractExtensionFactory {
  public MyListExtensionFactory() {
    super(MyListElement.NS);
    addImpl(MyListElement.MYLIST,MyListElement.class);
  }
}

META-INF/services/org.apache.abdera.factory.ExtensionFactory

foo.MyListExtensionFactory

Using the static extension

MyListElement list = entry.addExtension(MyListElement.MYLIST);
list.setName("listName");
list.addValue("one");
list.addValue("two");

Customizing the Parser

When parsing an Atom document, the parser uses a set of default configuration options that will adequately cover most application use cases. There are, however, times when the parsing options need to be adjusted. The ParserOptions class can be used to tweak the operation of the parser in a number of important ways.

Using the ParserOptions

Abdera abdera = new Abdera();
Parser parser = abdera.getParser();
ParserOptions options = parser.getDefaultParserOptions();
    
options.setAutodetectCharset(true);
options.setCharset("UTF-8");
options.setCompressionCodecs(CompressionCodec.GZIP);
options.setFilterRestrictedCharacterReplacement('_');
options.setFilterRestrictedCharacters(true);
options.setMustPreserveWhitespace(false);
options.setParseFilter(null);
options.setResolveEntities(true);
options.registerEntity("foo", "bar");
    
InputStream in = ...;
String base = "http://example.org";
    
parser.parse(in,base,options);

setAutodetectCharset - Abdera will, by default, attempt to automatically detect the character set used in an XML document. It will do so by looking at the XML prolog, the Byte Order Mark, or the first few bytes of the document. The process works reasonably well for the overwhelming majority of cases but it does cause of bit of performance hit. The autodetection algorithm can be disabled by calling options.setAutodetectCharset(false). This only has an effect when parsing an InputStream.
setCharset - This option allows you to manually set the character set the parser should use when decoding an InputStream.
setCompressionCodecs - Abdera is capable of parsing InputStream's that have been compressed using the GZIP or Deflate algorithms (typically used as HTTP transfer encodings). setCompressionCodecs can be used to specify which encodings have been applied.
setFilterRestrictedCharacters - By default, Abdera will throw a parse exception if any characters not allowed in XML are detected. By setting setFilterRestrictedCharacters(true), the parser will automatically filter out invalid XML characters.
setFilterRestrictedCharacterReplacement - When setFilterRestrictedCharacters has been set to "true", Abdera will, by default, replace the character with an empty string. Alternatively, you can use setFilterRestrictedCharacterReplacement to specify a replacement character.
setParseFilter - See below
setResolveEntities - There are a number of named character entities allowed by HTML and XHTML that are not supported in XML without a DTD. However, it is not uncommon to find these entities being used without a DTD. Abdera will, by default, automatically handle these entities by replacing them with the appropriate character equivalent. To disable automatic entity resolution call setResolveEntities(false). Doing so will cause Abdera to return an error whenever a named character entity is used.
registerEntity - When setResolveEntities is true, registerEntity can be used to register a new custom named entity reference.

ParseFilters

A ParseFilter is used to filter the stream of parse events. In the example below, only the elements added to the ParseFilter will be parsed and added to the Feed Object Model instance. All other elements will be silently ignored. The resulting savings in CPU and memory costs is significant.

Using a ParseFilter

ListParseFilter filter = new WhiteListParseFilter();
filter.add(Constants.FEED);
filter.add(Constants.ENTRY);
filter.add(Constants.TITLE);
options.setParseFilter(filter);
Document<Feed> doc = parser.parse(in,base,options);

There are three basic types of ParseFilters:

WhiteListParseFilter - Only elements and attributes listed in the filter will be parsed.
BlackListParseFilter - Elements and attributes listed in the filter will be ignored
CompoundParseFilter - Allows multiple parse filters to be applied

Developers can also create their own ParseFilter instances by implementing the ParseFilter or ListParseFilter interfaces, or extending the AbstractParseFilter or AbstractListParseFilter abstract base classes:

MyCustomParseFilter.java

public class MyParseFilter extends AbstractParseFilter() {

  public boolean acceptable(QName qname) {
    return false;
  }

  public boolean acceptable(QName qname, QName attribute) {
    return false;
  }
}

Using a CompoundParseFilter, a developer can apply multple ParseFilters at once:

Using a CompoundParseFilter

CompoundParseFilter cpf = 
  new CompoundParseFilter(
    Condition.ACCEPTABLE_TO_ALL,
    parseFilter1,
    parseFilter2
  );

By default, the CompoundParseFilter will accept an element or attribute if it is acceptable to any of the ParseFilters in it's collection. This default can be modified by explicitly setting the condition parameter:

Condition.ACCEPTABLE_TO_ALL: Accepts the element or attribute only if it is acceptable to all contained ParseFilters
Condition.ACCEPTABLE_TO_ANY: Accepts the element or attribute if it is acceptable to any of the contained ParseFilters
Condition.UNACCEPTABLE_TO_ALL: Accepts the element or attribute only if it is unacceptable to all contained ParseFilters
Condition.UNACCEPTABLE_TO_ANY: Accepts the element or attribute if it is unacceptable to any of the contained ParseFilters

Note that the UNACCEPTABLE_TO_* conditions will accept an element or attribute based on a negative result. This is particularly useful when building blacklist-based filters, where an item is only acceptable if it does not meet an explicitly stated condition.

Serializing Atom Documents

Abdera uses a flexible mechanism for serializing Atom documents to a Java InputStream or Writer. A developer can use the default serializer or select an alternative Abdera writer implementation to use.

Using the default serializer

Entry entry = ...
entry.writeTo(System.out);

The default serializer will output valid, but unformatted XML; there will be no line-breaks or indents. Using the NamedWriter mechanism, it is possible to select alternative serializers. Abdera ships with two alternative serialiers: PrettyXML and JSON. Developers can implement additional serializers by implementing the NamedWriter interface.

The PrettyXML Writer will output formatted XML containing line-breaks and indent

Writer writer = abdera.getWriterFactory().getWriter("prettyxml");
entry.writeTo(writer,System.out);

The JSON Writer will output the Atom document converted to a JSON format

Writer writer = abdera.getWriterFactory().getWriter("json");
entry.writeTo(writer,System.out);

For more on the JSON output, please see the section regarding the JSON Extension.

Implementing a NamedWriter

Implementing a NamedWriter

Writer writer = new AbstractNamedWriter("mywriter") {

  public Object write(
    Base base, 
    WriterOptions options) 
      throws IOException {
    return null;
  }

  public void writeTo(
    Base base, 
    OutputStream out, 
    WriterOptions options)
      throws IOException {
    
  }

  public void writeTo(
    Base base, 
    java.io.Writer out, 
    WriterOptions options)
      throws IOException {
  
  }

  @Override protected WriterOptions initDefaultWriterOptions() {
    return new AbstractWriterOptions() {} ;
  }
  
};

entry.writeTo(writer,System.out);

Your custom NamedWriter can be registered with Abdera by adding a file called META-INF/services/org.apache.abdera.writer.NamedWriter to the classpath and listing the fully-qualified class name of each named writer per line.

META-INF/services/org.apache.abdera.writer.NamedWriter

foo.MyNamedWriter
foo.MyOtherNamedWriter

Registration will allow the named writer to be accessed via the Abdera WriterFactory:

META-INF/services/org.apache.abdera.writer.NamedWriter

Writer writer = abdera.getWriterFactory().getWriter("mynamedwriter");
entry.writeTo(writer,System.out);

Using the StreamWriter interface

The org.apache.abdera.writer.StreamWriter interface was added to Abdera after the release of 0.3.0. It provides an alternative means of writing out Atom documents using a streaming interface that avoids the need to build up a complex, in-memory object model. It is well suited for applications that need to quickly produce potentially large Atom documents.

From examples/src/main/java/org/apache/abdera/examples/simple/StreamWriterExample.java

StreamWriter out = 
  abdera.newStreamWriter()
    .setOutputStream(System.out,"UTF-8")
    .setAutoflush(false)
    .setAutoIndent(true)
    .startDocument()
      .startFeed()
        .writeBase("http://example.org")
        .writeLanguage("en-US")
        .writeId("http://example.org")
        .writeTitle("<Testing 123>")
        .writeSubtitle("Foo")
        .writeAuthor("James", null, null)
        .writeUpdated(new Date())
        .writeLink("http://example.org/foo")
        .writeLink("http://example.org/bar","self")
        .writeCategory("foo")
        .writeCategory("bar")
        .writeLogo("logo")
        .writeIcon("icon")
        .writeGenerator("1.0", "http://example.org", "foo")
        .flush();
      
for (int n = 0; n < 100; n++) {
  out.startEntry()      
    .writeId("http://example.org/" + n)
    .writeTitle("Entry #" + n)
    .writeUpdated(new Date())
    .writePublished(new Date())
    .writeEdited(new Date())
    .writeSummary("This is text summary")
    .writeAuthor("James", null, null)
    .writeContributor("Joe", null, null)
    .startContent("application/xml")
      .startElement(new QName("a","b","c"))
        .startElement(new QName("x","y","z"))
          .writeElementText("This is a test")
          .startElement("a")
            .writeElementText("foo")
          .endElement()
          .startElement("b","bar")
            .writeAttribute("foo", new Date())
            .writeAttribute("bar", 123L)
            .writeElementText(123.123)
          .endElement()
        .endElement()
      .endElement()
    .endContent()
  .endEntry()
  .flush();
}
      
out.endFeed()
  .endDocument()
  .flush();

Text and Content Options

Atom allows for a broad range of text and content options. The choices can often times be confusing. Text constructs such as atom:title, atom:rights, atom:subtitle and atom:summary can contain plain text, escaped HTML or XHTML markup. The atom:content element can contain plain text, escaped HTML, XHTML markup, arbitrary XML markup, any arbitrary text-based format, Base64-encoded binary data or referenced external content. Abdera provides methods for dealing with these options.

Text Constructs

Text construct options

entry.setTitle("A text title");
    
entry.setTitleAsHtml("<p>An HTML title</p>");
    
entry.setTitleAsXhtml("<p>An XHTML title</p>");

Resulting atom:title elements

<title>A text title</title>

<title type="html">&lt;p&gt;An HTML title&lt;/p&gt;</title>

<title type="xhtml"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>An XHTML title</p></div></title>

Getting the text value

String title = entry.getTitle();
Text.Type titleType = entry.getTitleType();

Content

Content options

// Plain text
entry.setContent("A text title");
    
// Escaped HTML
entry.setContentAsHtml("<p>An HTML title</p>");
    
// XHTML markup
entry.setContentAsXhtml("<p>An XHTML title</p>");

// Arbitrary XML (parsed)    
entry.setContent("<a><b><c/></b></a>",Content.Type.XML);
    
// Arbitrary XML
QName qname = new QName("foo");
Element element = abdera.getFactory().newElement(qname);
entry.setContent(element);
    
// Base64-encoded binary from an inputstream
InputStream in = ...;
entry.setContent(in,"image/png");

// Base64-encoded from a Java Activation Framework DataHandler
DataHandler dh = ...;
entry.setContent(dh,"image/png");
    
// Content-by-reference using atom:content/@src
IRI iri = new IRI("http://example.org");
entry.setContent(iri,"image/png");

Resulting atom:content elements

<content>A text title</content>

<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;An HTML title&lt;/p&gt;</content>

<content type="xhtml"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>An XHTML title</p></div></content>

<content type="application/xml"><a><b><c/></b></a></content>

<content type="application/xml"><foo /></content>

<content type="image/png">{base64}</content>

<content type="image/png">{base64}</content>

<content type="image/png" src="http://example.org" />

Atom Date Constructs

The Atom format requires that all dates and times be formatted to match the date-time construct from RFC 3339. The basic format is YYYY-MM-DD'T'HH:mm:ss.ms'Z' where 'Z' is either the literal value 'Z' or a timezone offset in the form +-HH:mm. Examples: 2007-10-31T12:11:12.123Z and 2007-10-31T12:11:12.123-08:00. Abdera provides the AtomDate class for working with timestamps.

Using the AtomDate

// use the current date-time
AtomDate ad = new AtomDate();

// using java.util.Date
Date date = new Date();
AtomDate ad = new AtomDate(date);

// Using java.util.Calendar
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
AtomDate ad = new AtomDate(calendar);

// Miliseconds since the epoch
long l = System.currentTimeMillis();
AtomDate ad = new AtomDate(l);

// From formatted RFC3339 date-time
AtomDate ad = new AtomDate("2007-10-31T12:11:12.123-08:00");

The AtomDate class automatically converts all dates over the UTC and automatically includes milliseconds in the output string representation.

Setting date elements on an entry

entry.setUpdated(new Date());
entry.setPublished(new Date());
entry.setEdited(new Date());  // atompub app:edited element

Date Construct Extensions

The Atom format explicitly allows the Atom Date Construct to be reused by extensions. This means you can create your own extension elements that use the same syntax rules as the atom:updated, atom:published and app:edited elements. Such extensions can use the dynamic and static extension APIs:

Creating a Date Construct Extension

QName qname = new QName("foo");
DateTime dt = abdera.getFactory().newDateTime(qname, entry);
dt.setDate(new Date());

Resulting extension element

<foo>2007-10-30T18:02:10.464Z</foo>

Static Date Constructs can be created by extending the DateTimeWrapper abstract class.

Implementing a static Date Construct Extension

import javax.xml.namespace.QName;

import org.apache.abdera.factory.Factory;
import org.apache.abdera.model.DateTimeWrapper;
import org.apache.abdera.model.Element;


public class MyDateElement 
  extends DateTimeWrapper {

  public MyDateElement(Element internal) {
    super(internal);
  }

  public MyDateElement(Factory factory, QName qname) {
    super(factory, qname);
  }
  
  ...
}

Person Constructs

Atom defines the notion of a Person Construct to represent people and entities. A Person Construct consists minimally of a name, an optional email address and an optional URI.

Using the Person Construct

Person person = entry.addAuthor("John Doe", "john.doe@example.org", "http://example.org/~jdoe");

System.out.println(person.getName());
System.out.println(person.getEmail());
System.out.println(person.getUri());

Person Construct Extensions

The Atom format explicitly allows the Atom Person Construct to be reused by extensions. This means you can create your own extension elements that use the same syntax rules as the atom:author and atom:contributor elements. Such extensions can use the dynamic and static extension APIs:

Creating a Person Construct Extension

QName qname = new QName("urn:foo","foo","x");
Person person = abdera.getFactory().newPerson(qname, entry);
person.setName("John Doe");
person.setEmail("john.doe@example.org");
person.setUri("http://example.org/~jdoe");

Resulting extension element

<x:foo xmlns:x="urn:foo">
  <name>John Doe</name>
  <email>john.doe@example.org</email>
  <uri>http://example.org/~jdoe</uri>
</x:foo>

Static Person Constructs can be created by extending the PersonWrapper abstract class.

Implementing a static Person Construct Extension

import javax.xml.namespace.QName;

import org.apache.abdera.factory.Factory;
import org.apache.abdera.model.PersonWrapper;
import org.apache.abdera.model.Element;


public class MyPersonElement 
  extends PersonWrapper {

  public MyPersonElement(Element internal) {
    super(internal);
  }

  public MyPersonElement(Factory factory, QName qname) {
    super(factory, qname);
  }
  
  ...
}

Atom Links

Atom link elements are similar in design to the link tag used in HTML and XHTML. They can be added to feed, entry and source objects.

Adding Atom Link elements to an entry

entry.addLink(
  "http://example.org/foo",  // href
  Link.REL_ALTERNATE,        // rel
  "text/html",               // type
  "Link Title",              // title
  "en-US",                   // hreflang
  12345);                    // length

The rel attribute specifies the meaning of the link. The value of rel can either be a simple name or an IRI. Simple names MUST be registered with IANA. Note that each of the values in the IANA registry have a full IRI equivalent value, e.g., the value "http://www.iana.org/assignments/relation/alternate" is equivalent to the simple name "alternate". Any rel attribute value that is not registered MUST be an IRI.

Specifying a custom rel attribute value

entry.addLink(
  "http://example.org/foo",  // href
  "http://example.com/custom/link/rel"); // rel

Resulting link element

<link href="http://example.org/foo" rel="http://example.com/custom/link/rel" />

IRIs and URIs

Atom allows the use of Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs). An IRI is a URI that has been extended to allow non-ASCII characters.

An example IRI

http://examplé.com/Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn

IRIs allow for internationalization but can be difficult to handle due to a variety of issues involving proper Unicode normalization, conversion to URI form, etc. Abdera includes an IRI implementation that (fortunately) handles most of these details for you.

Using the Abdera IRI implementation

IRI iri = new IRI("http://examplé.com/Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn");

System.out.println(iri.toString());
System.out.println(iri.toASCIIString());
System.out.println(iri.toURL());

Output

http://examplé.com/Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn
http://xn--exampl-gva.com/I%C3%B1t%C3%ABrn%C3%A2ti%C3%B4n%C3%A0liz%C3%A6ti%C3%B8n
http://xn--exampl-gva.com/I%C3%B1t%C3%ABrn%C3%A2ti%C3%B4n%C3%A0liz%C3%A6ti%C3%B8n

Note that the toURL() method automatically calls the ASCII conversion process to produce a valid ASCII URL.

Base URIs

Atom supports the use of the xml:base attribute to specify the Base URI of relative references. Abdera provides a means of automatically resolving relative references using the base URI.

An Atom entry using relative references

<entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:base="http://example.org/foo"> 
  ...
  <link href="example" rel="alternate" />
  ...
</entry>

Resolving the absolute IRI for the link

IRI iri = entry.getAlternateLink().getResolvedHref();

Everywhere a relative IRI reference can be used, there will be a method for retrieving the resolved absolute IRI based on the in-scope base URI.

Using XPath

Abdera allows developers to use XPath statements to navigate the Feed Object Model.

Using XPath to navigate an entry

XPath xpath = abdera.getXPath();

Map<String,String> ns = xpath.getDefaultNamespaces();
ns.put("foo", "http://example.org");

xpath.selectSingleNode("a:title", entry, ns);
xpath.selectNodes("foo:extension", entry, ns);
xpath.booleanValueOf("foo:extension", entry, ns);
xpath.valueOf("foo:extension", entry, ns);
xpath.valueOf("a:author/a:name", entry, ns);

All XPath statements are executed relative to the type of object specified. In the example above, the path "a:title" is used to get the atom:title Text element from the entry. The statement "a:author/a:name" will return the a:name element of the first a:author element in the entry.

Custom XPath Functions

By default, Abdera's XPath implementation supports all of the standard functions defined by the XPath standards. With a little extra work, it is possible to extend the implementation to support custom XPath functions and variables.

Implementing and using a custom XPath function

FOMXPath xpath = (FOMXPath) abdera.getXPath();

Map<String,String> ns = xpath.getDefaultNamespaces();
Map<QName,Function> functions = xpath.getDefaultFunctions();

QName qname = new QName("urn:foo","myfunc");
Function myFunction = new Function() {
  public Object call(Context context, List list) throws FunctionCallException {
    return null;
  }  
};
functions.put(qname,myFunction);
ns.put("x","urn:foo");

xpath.valueOf("x:myfunc(a:title)", entry, ns, functions, null);

Using custom XPath variables

FOMXPath xpath = (FOMXPath) abdera.getXPath();

Map<String,String> ns = xpath.getDefaultNamespaces();
Map<QName,Object> variables = xpath.getDefaultVariables();

QName qname = new QName("urn:foo","foo");
variables.put(qname, "test value");
ns.put("x","urn:foo");

xpath.valueOf("string($x:foo)", entry, ns, null, variables);

Using XSLT

Abdera also provides mechanisms for transforming Abdera objects using XSLT.

Source Atom Document

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  
  <title>Example Feed</title>
  <link href="http://example.org/"/>
  <updated>2003-12-13T18:30:02Z</updated>
  <author>
    <name>John Doe</name>
  </author>
  <id>urn:uuid:60a76c80-d399-11d9-b93C-0003939e0af6</id>

  <entry>
    <title>Atom-Powered Robots Run Amok</title>
    <link href="http://example.org/2003/12/13/atom03"/>
    <id>urn:uuid:1225c695-cfb8-4ebb-aaaa-80da344efa6a</id>
    <updated>2003-12-13T18:30:02Z</updated>
    <content type="application/xml"><a xmlns="http://example.org"><b><c>test</c></b></a></content>
  </entry>

</feed>

XSLT Stylesheet

<xsl:stylesheet 
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" 
  xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
  version="1.0" >
  <xsl:output method="text" />
  <xsl:template match = "/" >This is a test <xsl:value-of select="a:feed/a:id" /></xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Using XSLT to transform Abdera objects

Parser parser = Abdera.getNewParser();
    
// Apply an XSLT transform to the entire Feed
TransformerFactory factory = TransformerFactory.newInstance();
      
// Abdera is capable of parsing any well-formed XML document, even XSLT
Document xslt = parser.parse(XsltExample.class.getResourceAsStream("/test.xslt"));
AbderaSource xsltSource = new AbderaSource(xslt);
Transformer transformer = factory.newTransformer(xsltSource);
      
// Now let's get the feed we're going to transform
Document<Feed> feed = parser.parse(XsltExample.class.getResourceAsStream("/simple.xml"));
AbderaSource feedSource = new AbderaSource(feed);
      
// Prepare the output
ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
Result result = new StreamResult(out);
transformer.transform(feedSource, result);
System.out.println(out); // "This is a test urn:uuid:60a76c80-d399-11d9-b93C-0003939e0af6"
      
// Apply an XSLT transform to XML in the content element
xslt = parser.parse(XsltExample.class.getResourceAsStream("/content.xslt"));
xsltSource = new AbderaSource(xslt);
transformer = factory.newTransformer(xsltSource);
      
feed = parser.parse(XsltExample.class.getResourceAsStream("/xmlcontent.xml"));
Entry entry = feed.getRoot().getEntries().get(0);
Content content = entry.getContentElement();
AbderaSource contentSource = new AbderaSource(content.getValueElement());
      
// Note that the AbderaSource is set to the value element of atom:content!!
     
out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
result = new StreamResult(out);
transformer.transform(contentSource, result);
System.out.println(out); // "This is a test test"

Signatures and Encryption

Abdera supports digital signatures and encryption of Atom documents.

Signing an Atom Document

Initialize the signing key

KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance(keystoreType);
InputStream in = DSig.class.getResourceAsStream(keystoreFile);    
ks.load(in, keystorePass.toCharArray());
PrivateKey signingKey = 
  (PrivateKey) ks.getKey(
    privateKeyAlias,
    privateKeyPass.toCharArray());
X509Certificate cert = 
  (X509Certificate) ks.getCertificate(
    certificateAlias);

Create the entry to sign

    
Entry entry = abdera.newEntry();
    
entry.setId("http://example.org/foo/entry");  
entry.setUpdated(new java.util.Date());
entry.setTitle("This is an entry");
entry.setContentAsXhtml("This <b>is</b> <i>markup</i>");
entry.addAuthor("James");
entry.addLink("http://www.example.org");

Prepare the digital signature options

    
AbderaSecurity absec = new AbderaSecurity(abdera);
Signature sig = absec.getSignature();
SignatureOptions options = sig.getDefaultSignatureOptions();    
options.setCertificate(cert);
options.setSigningKey(signingKey);

Sign the entry

    
    entry = sig.sign(entry, options);

Verify a signature

    
InputStream in = ...
Document<Entry> doc = abdera.getParser().parse(in);
entry = entry_doc.getRoot();
    
System.out.println("Valid? " + sig.verify(entry,null));

A number of options can be configured to adjust the way the document is signed

setSigningAlgorithm - Specify the algorithm used to sign the entry. Any of the algorithms supported by the Apache XML Security implementation can be used.
setSigningKey - Sets the private key used to sign the document
setCertificate - Sets the X.509 Certificate to be associated with the signature
setPublicKey - Sets the public key to be associated with the signature (alternative to setting the X.509 cert)
addReference - Allows a developer to add additional Href signatures to be included in the signature
setSignLinks - When set to true, Abdera will automatically sign resources referenced by atom:link elements and the atom:content src attribute
setSignLinkRels - When setSignLinks is set to true, lists the rel attribute values of link elements that should be included in the signature

Encrypting an Abdera Document

Any valid Java crypto provider can be used. In these examples, we are using the Bouncy Castle provider.

Prepare the crypto provider

try {
  String jce = abdera.getConfiguration().getConfigurationOption(
    "jce.provider",
    "org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider");
  Class provider = Class.forName(jce);
  Provider p = (Provider)provider.newInstance();
  Security.addProvider(p);
} catch (Exception e) {}

Generate Encryption Key

String jceAlgorithmName = "AES";
KeyGenerator keyGenerator =
    KeyGenerator.getInstance(jceAlgorithmName);
keyGenerator.init(128);
SecretKey key = keyGenerator.generateKey();

Create the entry to encrypt

Entry entry = abdera.newEntry();
entry.setId("http://example.org/foo/entry");
entry.setUpdated(new java.util.Date());
entry.setTitle("This is an entry");
entry.setContentAsXhtml("This <b>is</b> <i>markup</i>");
entry.addAuthor("James");
entry.addLink("http://www.example.org");

Prepare the encryption options

AbderaSecurity absec = new AbderaSecurity(abdera);
Encryption enc = absec.getEncryption();
EncryptionOptions options = enc.getDefaultEncryptionOptions();
options.setDataEncryptionKey(key);

Encrypt the document using the generated key

Document enc_doc = enc.encrypt(entry.getDocument(), options);

Decrypting an Atom Document