Category Archives: Idno

Posted on
by

Known comes bundled with a Firefox plugin that, using Mozilla’s Social API, allows you to add a Known share/reply button to your browser.

This is pretty cool, but sadly only works for Firefox.

While other browsers, including Chrome, can use the bookmarklet to access the same functionality, this is rather clunky – for one thing, Chrome’s bookmark bar is hidden by default, for another Chrome has an extensive API and it’d be a shame not to use it!

A Chrome plugin for your site

So, I had a go at putting together a Chrome plugin… partly to scratch this itch, but also to learn how to write Chrome extensions (which turns out to be fabulously easy).

Install and activate the plugin, then go to your settings page to download a chrome extension which has been customised to your site.

Go to your Settings -> Extensions page, and then drag the archive into the list; all being well, you’ll have a new icon next to your address bar!

» Visit the project on Github...

Posted on
by

So, here’s a plugin that implements a basic Known to Known cross poster, which uses the Known API authenticated with OAuth2 using my OAuth2 server.

This post will let you link an account on one Known server with an account on another Known server, and allow you to crosspost status and text posts from one to the other.

Primarily this is a demo of OAuth together with the Known API, but it might be handy if you have, say, a corporate blog but still want to post to it from your main site.

Pull it apart, play with the OAuth and see how I talk to the API!

» Visit the project on Github...

Posted on
by

OAuth is a technology that allows a user to connect a client to a service, but without that user needing to enter their password.

The usual way this works is that a user clicks on a button, and are taken to a page asking whether they wish to allow the connection. Under the bonnet a handshake is going on between the client and server, resulting in an exchange of tokens.

If you’ve ever used the “Facebook connect” or “Sign in with twitter” buttons, you are likely familiar with this.

Known has a comprehensive API, and while it is possible to authenticate yourself to it using signed HTTP headers, I thought it’d be handy to be able to authenticate with OAuth as well (it was an excuse for me to write the code powering the server side of an OAuth exchange, a good way to understand it!).

The plugin I wrote lets a user manage “applications” – collections of keys – which can be used by an OAuth2 client to power an exchange.

Example Usage

Here is an example of client authentication in it’s most basic…

To get a code:

https://mysite.com/oauth2/authorise/?response_type=code&client_id=<your API Key>&redirect_uri=<path to your endpoint>

You will be directed to a log in page, followed by a confirmation page as necessary, after which you will get a response code back. This response will either be a JSON encoded blob, or if you specified a redirect_uri, the values will be forwarded as get variables.

Exchanging the code for a token

https://mysite.com/oauth2/access_token/?grant_type=authorization_code&client_id=<your API Key>&redirect_uri=<path to your endpoint>

You should get back a json encoded blob with an access token, expiry and refresh token.

Once you’ve performed an OAuth exchange, you will be provided with an access token. You can pass this token along with any web service API call to authenticate your request.

» Visit the project on Github...