Spring-Security: Call method after authentication

Question

I'd like to track when users are logging in to my application. I have some code that I would like to execute right after the user is authenticated. The problem is, I can't figure out where this should be called. Does spring-security have a way to call a method after authentication?

Answer 1

Just write your own SpringSecurityFilter and add it to the filter chain right after your authentication provider is called.

package my.code;

public class AuditFilter extends SpringSecurityFilter {

   public void doFilterHttp(...) throws ... {
      {application code to run before request is processed}
      chain.doFilter(...);
      {application code to run after request has fully processed} 
   }
}

Then in your configuration XML (wherever you setup the Security Filter chain) add a line like this:

<bean id="auditFilter" class="my.code.AuditFilter>
   <security:custom-filter position="LAST"/>  <-- you can change the position
</bean>