public GrantedAuthority[] getAuthorities() { // assert this.getAuthoritieses() != null: "Granted Authorities cannot be null"; GrantedAuthority[] grantedAutorities = new GrantedAuthority[this.getUserRoles().size()]; Iterator itr = this.getUserRoles().iterator(); int i = 0; while (itr.hasNext()) { UserRole auth = (UserRole) itr.next(); String role = auth.getId().getRole(); GrantedAuthority grantedAuthority = new GrantedAuthorityImpl(role); grantedAutorities[i++] = grantedAuthority; } return grantedAutorities; }