I am trying to use the Box SDK For Android but it always makes me enter my Box credentials (username and password). How can I make it so that I don't have to enter a username and password each time. Their documentation is really confusing.
When you authenticate with Box you'll receive an OAuth2 access/refresh token pair that are used to make API calls. Box intends for you to save the access/refresh tokens on the device. The Android SDK should store them in shared preferences by default and automatically refresh the token for you as needed. You might confirm that the tokens are being saved in the shared preferences as a first step in debugging this further.
Related
Background:
This is about using a Gmail Addon created using Google App Script.
When the user installs the addon, there is the OAuth Consent Screen where user provides his consent to allow the "Product name shown to users" (as configured in the OAuth Screen) to allow the access specified.
Now, I read : https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/CrossClientAuth
which states :
When a user grants access to your app for a particular scope, the user
is looking at the user consent screen, which includes project-level
product branding that you set up in the Google API Console. (For
information about setting up the consent screen, see Setting up OAuth
2.0 in the API Console help.) Therefore, Google considers that when a user has granted access to a particular scope to any client ID in a
project, the grant indicates the user's trust in the whole application
for that scope.
Now, I have a server web component (a lambda) (belonging to the same product) that needs access to the user's email same access that the user provided after installing the addon ("Authorized Access" button).
Question(s) :
Is there a way to have cross-client (a backend server and a gmail addon) in my case to have the backend to just get access to user's data without triggering additional (basically whatever the user has provided consent to)?
Note: Using an additional authorization screen triggered manually using the GAS OAuth library I was able to get the "Auth Code" which I pass to the server using which the server now has access to the consented data (we have used the same client id and secret). However, the problem with this approach is :
User gets 2 emails about the permissions granted. Addon and Manually triggered flow.
User has to authorize the gmail addons for first access and then another which I trigger manually.
Even if there was a way I could get the "Auth Code" when the user installs the addon that would also do.
Apologize in advance there is a lot of scattered documentation and though I went through many it is likely I may have missed something.
We only issue one authorization code (refresh token) in exchange for one user authorization/approval. Your app can get new access tokens on android or web without a user approval. But if it needs a refresh token again, user still need to approve the request.
So if the addon can talk to your server, you could give it a short lived access token or will need to user authorization.
I am working on an Identity management application, using which my goal is to manage users on Box application.
I was going through Box documentation, and there are two ways for authentication
OAuth 2.0, which has redirection URI as required parameter. And due to which I cannot make use of it, since I will not be able to enter username and password and Authorize dynamically using my Java code.
Reference: https://box-content.readme.io/reference#oauth-2
JWT authentication, this I can use in my code and successfully get Access token. But problem here is, this access token can only be used to manage App Users (who will not have login to Box website).
Reference: https://box-content.readme.io/docs/box-developer-edition
So, is there any other authentication mechanism which I can use for getting Access token for managing Box users?
Regards,
Sandeep
The current best option is #1 with a process like this:
Create a Box application with the 'Manage an Enterprise' scope enabled.
Use a web-based access token generator (such as this or this) to get an initial access/refresh token pair. Save these somewhere safe (flat file, DB).
Code your application to initialize itself with the access/refresh token pair from its saved location.
When the access/refresh token pair is refreshed, write them out to the save location.
If your application runs across multiple nodes/processes this approach will require some (painful) coordination between them. I believe Box is working on some improvements in this area, so you may not have to live with this for long.
Is it possible to upload a file via the Box V2 API without requiring the user to login. I don't want to have to make my users create Box accounts - is it possible for them to upload a file using my account, or perhaps the API key instead of OAuth?
OAuth works by exchanging login credentials for an access token and refresh token. If you persist your access token and allow your users to submit requests using that access token, that would be equivalent of the user being logged in under your account.
Please note that the Box V2 access tokens only have a lifetime of an hour. So after that time, you will need to refresh it using the refresh token.
What about enabling uploads by email? Each folder will have a unique (and hard to guess) email address that you can send emails with attachments to. If you give that email address to users, they can upload that way.
Either I'm dense, or the docs assume I already know what they're telling me, but I need some clarification on doing authentication for a box.com app. I really don't understand whate's going on. As I read it:
the app running on the user's machine sends a request to Box, including all the little secrets (Which aren't all that secret any more if the user knows how to read the code).
The user is directed to the Box login page, which then sends the user to my server (with no page specified) attaching an authentication code.
The app somehow magically gets that code back from my server and sends a request to Box for the access token.
Box sends the access token to my server?
The app again magically gets the access token from my server and sends its APT requests.
Obviously I got lost somewhere.
And, why do I have to have a server involved in the process? The article on making a JavaScript app refers to a direct request for a token. Is there documentation on that somewhere?
You register your application on Box
After registration you receive clientId and clientSecret once on Box website
You hardcode your credentials somewhere in your application
First time your application needs to access Box API it should redirect user to https://www.box.com/api/oauth2/authorize, specifying your clientId, clientSecret and redirectURI as parameters. About redirectURI see below.
The box.com website opens. User enters his own credentials in the web form on box.com
User allows your application to access his files via API on the box.com website
Box redirects user back to you application using redirectURI specified before. One of the parameters to this request is "code". This is a very short-lived (30 seconds) access code that is only aligable for obtaining real access token.
During next 30 seconds your application should make another call to Box API to next URL: https://www.box.com/api/oauth2/token, specifying the previously obtained code. If everything was correct, your application receives an access_token, a refresh_token and "expires" values.
Now your application can make requests to Box API, specifying access_token every time
access_token expires in number of seconds, specified in "expires" field. It should be about 3600 seconds or 1 hour. Each time your application sees that access_token has expired, it should make another request to Box with the refresh_token and obtain a fresh access_token for another 1 hour.
refresh_token itself expires in 14 days
Note: if you develop a desktop application, then you should open browser for user on the step 4, redirectURI should be something like http://127.0.0.1:8080/Callback and you should run a small webserver just to catch the redirect with the code as in step 7.
Box requires that you specify a redirect_uri in your application's profile, and it must be an HTTPS URL.
As a result, it is not possible to use box with what google's oauth2 documentation calls "Client Side" or "Installed" applications, only "Web Server Applications" are allowed. Web Server applications do not have the secret leaking problem, because only the server knows the secret. You can pass the access token from your server to javascript on the client after
the oauth transaction is complete, if you want the client to make api requests directly.
In your question you are not totally clear in what you are actually trying to produce.
I however suspect that you are trying to write a client application what needs to authenticate to box using the OAUTH2 solution they have delivered in API V2.
If this is for an IPhone for example BOX has a great example of how to handle it.
In a WinForm application you would need to capture the resulting code sent back by box in the browser1.isnavigating event.
Windows console application you register a custom URI registration to collect the code.
Neither of these need to be registered in the API developers Application on box as you would pass the redirect required in the request to box.
If this does not point you in the right direction and your writing a .NET app then post again and I will try to clarify a little more.
Box requires some form user interaction which is short sighted in my opinion but try a web service that simulates a user interaction which then you can save/pass the token to your application to sync up with the Box "Cloud".
how to make a login call using the Box API methods in my webservice?
I can only see a URL, that redirects to a Box login Page, where user needs to endter username and password, but this I need this as a webservice call.
Does anyone have done it usig API ?
Regards Sathish
You can find the full details here, but in short, you can set a callback URL for your app at http://www.box.com/developers/services that Box will send the authentication token to. You can set up your web service to receive the token there.
The way Box's authentication flow is designed is to prevent the need for users to provide 3rd parties (you in this case) with their credentials. The fact that there is no mechanism to authenticate a user by passing their credentials through a web service call is deliberate, and there is no straightforward work around I'm aware of (especially no such workaround that would be consistent with the terms of use of their API).
http://developers.box.com/get-started/#authenticating
There is a new authentication mechanism they have in the pipeline which will allow you to authenticate to a sandboxed folder for your application using a much simpler process. This is currently in private beta. This might fit the needs of what you are looking for once it is available.
http://developers.box.com/docs/#tokens