how to conditionally show jsp content to logged in users with Spring security

Question

I want to show content to any user that is logged in and to hide if they are not logged in. I'm using jsp's and spring security.

Obviously a home grown solution is easily done. But what's the cleanest standard way of achieving this?

Spring security tags don't seem to have nice way that will allow for the addition of new roles in the future.

Answer 1

I've had success with the following:

    <sec:authorize ifAnyGranted="ROLE_ANONYMOUS">
        <td><a href="<c:url value="/login.htm"/>">Login</a></td>
    </sec:authorize>
    <sec:authorize ifNotGranted="ROLE_ANONYMOUS">
        <td><a href="<c:url value="/j_spring_security_logout"/>">Logout</a></td>
    </sec:authorize>

New roles can be added without affecting the logic here.

---

To bring this answer up to date with Spring Security 3, using the isAnonymous() and isAuthenticated() expressions have worked well in combination thus far to achieve the same thing. Here's an example:

<sec:authorize access="isAnonymous()">
    <form method="POST" action="<c:url value='j_spring_security_check'/>">
        Username: <input name="j_username" type="text" value="${SPRING_SECURITY_LAST_USERNAME}" /> 
        Password: <input name="j_password" type="password" /> 
        <input type="submit" value="Sign in" />
    </form>
</sec:authorize>
<sec:authorize access="isAuthenticated()">
    <a href="<c:url value="/j_spring_security_logout" />">Logout</a>
</sec:authorize>