Category:Single Sign-On

From KickApps API Reference

The KickApps Single Sign-On (SSO) module enables you to create seamless registration and log-in experiences between your KickApps-powered community and the user registration and log in functionalities on another website. With SSO implemented, users will register and log in just once and can seamlessly move between your KickApps-powered pages and pages powered by another platform, while being logged in on both.

Contents 1 Implementing SSO 2 Activating SSO 3 SSO Methods 4 SOAP and Web Services 5 Example: Mandatory Authentication Header XML

Implementing SSO

There are two ways to implement SSO:

1. SSO plug-ins for popular CMS and blogging platforms. Plug-ins are available for:
   1. Joomla!
   2. Drupal
   3. WordPress
2. Roll your own SSO implementation via our SOAP API. Sample code is available for:
   1. PHP 4 & 5
   2. ASP and ASP.NET
   3. J2EE

Activating SSO

Once your SSO implementation is in place, activate it from the KickApps side by following these steps.

1. [Log in] to the Affiliate Center.
2. Browse to Configure > Advanced > Single Sign-On
3. Fill in the required fields.
4. Select "Activate SSO".
5. Select "SSO Key to authenticate SOAP requests" to ensure that no unauthorized person can use your SOAP calls to register members on your communities. When you enable this option it is also advisable that you pass your dev key along with all your requests so that KickApps can ensure that unauthorized users aren't requesting those calls.
6. Click Save.

SSO Methods

In general, affiliate sites send KickApps real-time information for the following information. Each method is sent to KickApps using an XML request over SOAP. Example requests and the corresponding responses are included later in this document.

• Member Register
  Returns a response stating the request status. If successful, KickApps will establish a session for the user.
• Combined Member Sign On and Register
  Returns a response stating the request status. If the user does not exist in the KickApps database, the user is registered. If the user does exist, then no other action occurs. In either case, KickApps will establish a session for the user.
• Member Sign On
  Returns a response stating the request status. If successful, KickApps will establish a session for the user.
• Member Sign Out
  Returns a response stating the request status. If successful, KickApps will establish a session for the user.
• Member Change Username
  Returns a response stating the request status. If successful, KickApps will establish a session for the user.
• Member Change Email
  Returns a response stating the request status. If successful, KickApps will establish a session for the user.
• Member Profile Edit/Update
  Return a response XML document stating the request status.

SOAP and Web Services

SSO uses web services, which support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. While web services encompass many different systems, the term usually refers to those services that use SOAP-formatted XML envelopes and have interfaces described by WSDL (Web Services Description Language). KickApps SSO Web Service’s WSDL can be found at http://affiliate.kickapps.com/soap/KaSoapSvc?WSDL.

The configuration of web services enables systems to interact, regardless of the underlying technology platforms.

The KickApps SOAP-based SSO Web Service expose the methods that enable you to start a user session on behalf of the user, on KickApps' domain, as long as the technology you use provides a SOAP stack that implements all specifications that are part of the web service’s architecture.

The SSO API Reference lists example requests and responses for all methods exposed by the KickApps SSO Web Service. Unless otherwise specified all parameters in the sample request are required.

SOAP requests for SSO must include a mandatory authentication header token containing your credentials, as with the example below. The header token must be sent with every request header. Without this header authentication token, the request will fail.

Example: Mandatory Authentication Header XML

<AffiliateAuthenticationToken xmlns="http://schemas.kickapps.com/services/soap">
  <AffiliateUserName>affiliate_X</AffiliateUserName>
  <AffiliateUserEmail>affiliate_X@affiliate.com</AffiliateUserEmail>
</AffiliateAuthenticationToken>

This page was last modified on 26 January 2010, at 20:13. - This page has been accessed 2,209 times. -

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