Adding Authentication to API Calls

Step 1 - Enable Authentication

Why Use Authentication?

Authentication is a way to verify that only permitted calls to an API are allowed.

How To Enable Authentication on an API Endpoint

1. Open a 

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    in PhixFlow from the 

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    homepage
2. On the toolbar, click 

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3. In the API section, disable Disable 

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    Allow Anonymous Connection 
   1. This will then only allow authenticated calls to the API

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    the changes

How To Create

Authentication Users

Create New User (Optional)

Create a dedicated API user with limited privileges if you want the API to show as being run by this user in the System Console. 

1. In the 

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   , expand the 

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    section 
2. Click 

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    to create a new user who will be able to run the API
   1. Enabled: 

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       the user

Create New Role

1. In the

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   , expand the application with the Incoming API
2. Expand

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    and create an New Role by clicking 

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   1. Pin the tab as we will need it to remain open
   2. Provide a useful Name, e.g. GenerateToken

Add Privileges to New Role 

1. In the Privileges section, click 

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2. Search for and drag across the privilege following privileges in the Full Repository Repository: 
   • Use API Key
   • Run Actions
   • View Table Actions (PhixFlow version 11.2 or older only)
3. Drag the Use API Key into the each privilege across from the Full Repository into the Privileges section of the Role 

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    the changes

Create and Assign API User Group to Role

1. In the 

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    section, click 

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   1. Add a new Group for your Role
      1. Give it a useful Name e.g. API Users
      2. Add any users you require to be able to run the API.
         1. This could be a dedicated API user with limited privileges
         2. To create a user , such as the one created in the section, Create New User, above
            1. For more on creating users, see Managing User Accounts
             → Creating Users
      3. Click 

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          and close the tab
   2. Now drag the new user group into the 

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       section of the new role

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       the changes
2. The setup should look similar to:
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Step 3 - Authentication Token KeyStore

A signing key is used to generate the PhixFlow API key and this is stored on the server to ensure secure access.

Using the page Configure a Keystore and Aliases, configure phixflow-api-key to be used as the signing key for PhixFlow API Keys in the same way as the pepperKey is configured. This secret string must be a minimum of 32 bytes length.

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      1. If working in PhixFlow version 11.2 or older, the role will have an additional privilege: View Table Actions 

Assign Application Access User Group to New User (Optional)

1. If you created a new user, in the 

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   , expand the

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    section
2. Double click on the new user
3. In the User Groups section, click the 

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    icon to display the available User Groups in the Full Repository
4. Search for the name of your application in the search box
   1. Two User Groups will display - drag across the one that doesn't contain _Admin into the User Group section of your user

How To Generate Authentication Tokens

1. The Incoming API will run as a specified user, this means that when it is called the audit trail will show the specified user as having performed the Incoming API Actionflow
2. You do not need to login as this user, however, if you were already logged in as this user, you will need to logout and login again to pick up the user group change 
3. In the 

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   , scroll down to the Full Repository section and expand it
4. Expand the

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    section
5. Double click on the user who will run the Incoming API
6. Click the 3-dot more menu in the top right of the user properties
7. Click Generate API Key
8. Copy the value displayed and store it somewhere safe

How To Send Authorisation

When calling the Incoming API, the authorisation token must be passed in as a header called: Authorization.

1. On the 

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    action, open the 

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2. In the Secret Key Details section, click 

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   1. Give the secret key a name, e.g. MyAPIKey
   2. Toggle on Enabled

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       the secret key
   4. Next to Secret, click 

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   5. Paste in the API Key you copied above - see above section, How To Generate Authentication Tokens

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       the Local Secret and Secret Key
3. In the Headers section on the

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    action, click 

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   1. Name: Authorization
   2. Expression: ${_datasource.MyAPIKey}
      1. Where MyAPIKey is the name of the Secret Key you set above

Worked Example

Here's a worked example using the Company Data (available from the Learning Centre).

In this example, we are using:  

• A Company Call API screen containing a fixed drop down list of industries, a string fields for Status, StatusMessage, Industry, CompanyName, CompanyID the API Status and a multi-line string field for Results the Results - this screen was created using the Tile with Buttons template

Add Authentication to API Calling Actionflow

In this example, we'll add authentication to the Actionflow that calls the an API. 

Prerequisites

For this example, we'll modify an API End Point Actionflow containing company data to only allow authenticated calls and we'll add secret key details to an Actionflow that calls the API.

The two Actionflows that will be modified were created in 3.01 11 Setting up an API End PointEndpoint. If you have not completed this chapter, expand the section below and follow the steps to create the Actionflows.

Enable Authentication on API End Point Actionflow

1. Open the

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    API Company Data Actionflow
2. On the toolbar click 

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3. In the API section, disable 

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    Allow Anonymous Connection 
   1. This will then only allow authenticated calls to the API

4. Insert excerpt
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    the changes

Create Authentication User

1. In the 

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   , expand the 

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    section 
2. Click 

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    to create a new user who will be able to run the API
   1. Login: apiagent
   2. First Name: API
   3. Surname: Agent
   4. Password: Phixflow123!
   5. Enabled: 

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       the userIn the  Insert excerpt_user_group_user_groupnopaneltrue section, click the  Insert excerpt_ user_group_user_groupnameiconnopaneltrue iconAdd a new User Group called APIUsersIn the Users section, click Insert excerpt_user_usernameiconnopaneltrue icon and drag across your API Agent user into the Users section
   7. Close the Users window
   Click  Insert excerpt_save_savenopaneltrue on the User Group tab

Create Role

We need to create a role then assign the privilege and user group(s) to it.

1. In the

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    for the application (not the full repository), expand the application you're working in
2. Expand

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    and create an New Role by clicking 

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   1. Pin the tab as we will need it to remain open
   2. Name: GenerateAPITokenIn

Add Privileges to Role

1. On the Role, in the Privileges section, click 

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   1. Search for the privilege, Use API Key and drag it into the across the following privileges from the Full Repository into the Privileges section of the Role 

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      :
      • Run Actions
      • Use API Key
      • View Table Actions (only if working in PhixFlow version 11.2 or older)
   2. 

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       the changes
   In

Create and Assign User Group to Role

1. On the Role, in the 

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    section, click 

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   1. Add Create a new User Group called APIUsersIn the Users section, click  by clicking the 

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      user

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      1. Name: APIUsers

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          icon and drag across your API Agent user into  the new user group
      3. On the User Group, in the Users section, click Click the 

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          icon and drag across the Role, User, your API Agent user into the Roles section of the APIUsers User GroupClose the Users windowUsers section
      4. Click 

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          on the User Group tab the changes
2. Click back onto the GenerateAPIToken Role tab
3. Drag the APIUsers user group into the 

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    section of the GenerateAPIToken Role

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       the changes

Assign Application Access User Group to User

1. In the 

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   , expand the

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    section
2. Double click on the API Agent user
3. In the User Groups section, click the 

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    icon to display the available User Groups in the Full Repository
4. Search for the name of your application in the search box
   1. Two User Groups will display - drag across the one that doesn't contain _Admin into the User Group section of your API Agent user
   Hover

Generate Authentication Token

1. On the API Agent user, hover over the 3-dot more menu in the top right corner
2. Click Generate API Key
3. Copy the value displayed and store it somewhere safe

Send Authorization

1. On the screen, Company Call API, open the Actionflow on the Call API button
2. Click on the HTTP Action, Call API, to open its

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3. In the Secret Key Details section, click 

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   1. Name: APIKey
   2. Enabled: 

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       the changes
   4. Secret: click 

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      1. In the Secret field, paste the API Key you copied above

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          the changes
         
4. In the Headers section, click 

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   1. Name: Authorization
   2. Expression: ${_datasource.APIKey}

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    the changes

Testing

1. On the Actionflow calling the API, click Run Action and run the Actionflow
2. Access the System Console to check if the API displays as being run by your specific API User

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