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Creating a Hello User web script with authentication

To see authentication in action, you can make a slightly more interesting Hello World example named Hello User that requires authenticated access and responds with a personalized greeting.
  1. Log in to SkyVault Share.
    1. Type http://localhost:8080/share in the web browser.
    2. If prompted, log in with the user name admin and password admin.
    3. Click the Repository link in the Share header.
    4. Navigate to Data Dictionary > Web Scripts Extensions.
  2. Create a web script description document for the Hello User example.
    1. In the Create menu, select XML.
    2. Enter hellouser.get.desc.xml as the web script name in the Name field.
    3. Enter the following in the content box: 

      
<webscript>
  <shortname>Hello User</shortname>
  <description>Personalized greeting</description>
  <url>/hellouser</url>
  <authentication>user</authentication>
  <negotiate accept="text/html">html</negotiate>
  <negotiate accept="application/json">json</negotiate>
</webscript>
    4. Click Create.
    5. Click the Web Scripts Extensions directory again to return to the folder.
  3. Create a web script response template to render the Hello User greeting.
    1. In the Create menu, select Plain Text.
    2. Enter hellouser.get.html.ftl as the template name in the Name field.
    3. Type Hello ${person.properties.userName} in the content box.
    4. Click Create.
    5. Again, navigate back to the Web Scripts Extensions folder by clicking on it in the breadcrumb trail.
  4. Register the Hello User web script with SkyVault Content Services.
    1. Open a new browser tab.
    2. Type http://localhost:8080/alfresco/service/index in the web browser.
    3. If prompted, log in with the user name admin and password admin.
    4. Click Refresh Web Scripts.

      A message indicates there is one additional web script.

  5. Type http://localhost:8080/alfresco/service/hellouser in the web browser to test the new web script.

    A Hello admin message displays indicating your web script is working.

  • Returning a JSON response format While a web script that returns HTML (such as the Hello World sample web script) is fine for rendering a user interface, it is not so good for a data web script that needs to returns a format that is machine-readable, such as JSON. (JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight data interchange format, often used for transmitting structured data over a network connection.)
  • Selecting a response format There are several ways for a client to explicitly select a response format: URL extension, URL query parameter, and Accept header.
  • How Hello User works The sample web script required user level authentication in its hellouser.get.desc.xml descriptor file. This indicated to the Web Script Framework that prior to invoking the web script, a user has to first log in.
  • Specifying user identity There are several options for specifying the user with which to invoke a web script: HTTP Basic authentication, ticket, or as a Guest.
  • Using the JSON callback Creating a callback example involves creating an HTML page that invokes the Hello User web script with a callback that displays the JSON response in an alert box.
  • Understanding how the JSON callback works The easiest way to understand the callback example is to invoke the Hello User web script directly and interrogate the response.
Parent topic: Web Script tutorials

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