ZfcRbac Role Provider and Identity getRoles()

Question

I couldn't understand a concept when using ZfcRbac.

1. I use my own User entity with implementing ZfcRbac\Identity\IdentityInterface

2. This interface has addRole and getRoles methods and getRoles() should return array of Rbac\Role\RoleInterface so I have an array of Rbac\Role\RoleInterface

3. I get roles from my custom model and add roles to User entity via addRole() when authenticating the user

4. Rbac\Role\RoleInterface has hasPermission() method which returns role's permissions

Summary: After authentication I have my authenticated User identity information, roles and permissions for per role. Why I need another RoleProvider and list my all roles in it? What am i missing?

Answer 1

As you can see in the php doc in the IdentityInterface The getRoles() method can return two things:

1. an array of strings

2. an array of Rbac\Role\RoleInterface

In case you return an array of strings you need an additional RoleProvider to "translate" the strings to actual instances of a Rbac\Role\RoleInterface. If you return an array of Rbac\Role\RoleInterface it seems to me that you do not longer need a RoleProvider.