Using the Redmine REST API with OAuth2 at Planio » History » Sprint/Milestone 1
Jens Krämer, 08/12/2020 10:14 AM
1 | 1 | Jens Krämer | # Using the Redmine REST API with OAuth2 at Planio |
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3 | As you might know, Planio comes with a powerful [REST API](https://plan.io/api) |
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4 | which covers almost all aspects of Planio. If you were working with the API |
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5 | before, you know that in order to use it, you had to generate an API key and |
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6 | use that to make authorized API calls. |
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7 | |||
8 | This approach, while relatively easy to work with, has a few drawbacks: |
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10 | - Each API key is tied to a single user account, meaning that your application |
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11 | will always act as this user when interacting with Planio. |
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12 | - There is no way to restrict what an application can do - an API key always |
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13 | grants it's user the same set of permissions that the user it belongs to has. |
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14 | |||
15 | **OAuth 2** introduces a mechanism to restrict applications to a certain |
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16 | *scope*. Further, users need to explicitly grant access to an application |
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17 | before it may act on their behalf. When doing so, they will be informed about |
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18 | the scope, that is, what data the application is going to have access to. In |
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19 | the same way, a user may later decide to revert this decision and revoke access |
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20 | for an application at any time. |
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21 | |||
22 | Starting today, Planio now supports OAuth2. |
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23 | |||
24 | ## Using OAuth 2 with Planio |
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25 | |||
26 | Let's look a minimal example for you to try out. |
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27 | |||
28 | ### Create an OAuth Application in your Planio Account |
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29 | |||
30 | In order to use OAuth with Planio, you have to create an **Application** first. |
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31 | This will generate a unique identifier for your API client, as well as a |
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32 | secret. Both will be used to authenticate your application when it's |
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33 | communicating with Planio. |
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34 | |||
35 | Go to *Your Avatar* → **Administration** → **Applications** and click **New |
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36 | Application**. |
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37 | |||
38 | ![Creating a new OAuth application](new_application%402x.png) |
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39 | |||
40 | You may enter any descriptive **Name** for your application. This will be shown later to users when they are about to authorize your app. |
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41 | |||
42 | The **Redirect URI** is the location where Planio will redirect a user's |
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43 | browser to after they granted access to your application. The redirect will |
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44 | carry a `code` query parameter which holds an authorization code that's needed |
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45 | to retrieve the actuall access token later. |
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46 | |||
47 | For now, enter `urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob` as the **Redirect URI**. This |
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48 | special value tells Planio that this application is not reachable over the |
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49 | web. Instead, the authorization code will be simply displayed to the user for |
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50 | manual transfer to the client application requesting access. |
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51 | |||
52 | Below, in the **Scopes** section, you decide what your application will be |
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53 | allowed to do. Don't be too generous here, and restrict the set of granted |
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54 | permissions to the minimum necessary. For now, just select the |
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55 | **Add issues** permission and hit **Save** below. |
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56 | |||
57 | You will be redirected to a page that lists the details you just entered, along |
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58 | with the application's **Application Id** and **Secret**. |
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59 | |||
60 | |||
61 | ### Build the OAuth 2 client |
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62 | |||
63 | We'll be using the [Ruby language](https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/) and the [OAuth2 Gem](https://rubygems.org/gems/oauth2) for this. |
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64 | |||
65 | Of the various *OAuth Flows* that exist, Planio currently supports the most commonly used *Authorization Code* flow. Please refer to [the OAuth 2 spec](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6749#section-4.1) for more technical details. Any applications you create are considered *confidential* in the sense of the spec, which means that the application secret may not be disclosed. If you require support for a *public* application (for example a mobile app or an application running exclusively in the browser), please contact us. |
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66 | |||
67 | **Set up the client** |
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68 | |||
69 | ~~~ruby |
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70 | require 'oauth2' |
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71 | |||
72 | client_id = '...' # your application id |
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73 | client_secret = '...' # your application's secret |
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74 | redirect_uri = '...' # your application's redirect uri |
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75 | site = "https://your-domain.plan.io/" # your planio account's URL |
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76 | |||
77 | client = OAuth2::Client.new(client_id, client_secret, site: site) |
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78 | ~~~ |
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79 | |||
80 | |||
81 | **Authorize the Application** |
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82 | |||
83 | If you were building a real application, you would now send your user to some |
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84 | URL where they are prompted to grant access. Usually you don't have to |
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85 | construct these URLs yourself, but your OAuth 2 client library will do it for |
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86 | you: |
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87 | |||
88 | ~~~ruby |
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89 | client.auth_code.authorize_url(redirect_uri: redirect_uri, scope: 'add_issues') |
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90 | # => https://your-domain.plan.io/oauth/authorize?response_type=code&client_id=...&redirect_uri=... |
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91 | ~~~ |
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92 | |||
93 | As `scope`, list all permissions you are planning to use. You cannot request |
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94 | any permissions that have not been selected when the application was registered in Planio, but |
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95 | you can choose to select less. Here, we only request the `add_issues` permission in order to be able to add issues. |
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96 | |||
97 | Open this URL in your browser and you will be prompted for authorization, |
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98 | listing the permissions you are applying for. |
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99 | |||
100 | ![Authorizing an OAuth 2 Application](authorize_app%402x.png) |
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101 | |||
102 | Click **Authorize**, and take |
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103 | note of the **Authorization code**. If you had entered a real **Redirect URI** |
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104 | earlier, you would have been redirected to that URI now, with the authorization |
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105 | code as query parameter. |
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106 | |||
107 | |||
108 | |||
109 | **Retrieve an Access Token** |
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110 | |||
111 | With the authorization code you can now request an access token from your |
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112 | Planio account like this: |
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113 | |||
114 | ~~~ruby |
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115 | code = '...' # the authorization code from above |
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116 | token = client.auth_code.get_token(code, redirect_uri: redirect_uri) |
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117 | # => <#OAuth2::AccessToken ...> |
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118 | ~~~ |
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119 | |||
120 | If at this point you get an error, it is most likely that the code, which is |
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121 | only valid for a short time, already has expired. |
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122 | |||
123 | **Use the Access Token for API requests** |
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124 | |||
125 | If everything worked out, you may now use the token to do requests against |
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126 | Planio's REST API. |
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127 | |||
128 | ~~~ruby |
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129 | JSON.parse token.get('/users/current.json').body |
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130 | ~~~ |
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131 | |||
132 | This will give you some basic information about the user you are acting as. Of |
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133 | course at this point you can stop using the OAuth 2 client and use any other |
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134 | HTTP client to query Planio's API. Let's try with |
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135 | [RestClient](https://github.com/rest-client/rest-client): |
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136 | |||
137 | ~~~ruby |
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138 | # get the actual token string from the oauth lib |
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139 | token_value = token.token |
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140 | # compile the issue data |
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141 | payload = { issue: { subject: "Hello world" } } |
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142 | # specify the token in the Authorization HTTP header |
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143 | headers = { Authorization: "Bearer #{token_value}"} |
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144 | RestClient.post "https://your-domain.plan.io/projects/some-project/issues.json", payload, headers |
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145 | # => <RestClient::Response 201 "{\"issue\":{\"..."> |
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146 | ~~~ |
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147 | |||
148 | And that's it! You successfully created an issue with authorization obtained via OAuth 2. |
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149 | |||
150 | **A word on security** |
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151 | |||
152 | As the developer of an OAuth 2 client application it is your responsibility to keep the application secret as well as any auth and refresh tokens you obtain safe - any unintended disclosure may lead to unauthorized access to your users' data. |
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153 | |||
154 | |||
155 | ### Manage your Authorized Applications |
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156 | |||
157 | Click on *Your Avatar* → **My Account** → **Authorized Applications** in order |
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158 | to see the list of applications that currently have access to your account. |
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159 | |||
160 | ![](authorized_apps%402x.png) |
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161 | |||
162 | Clicking **Revoke** will invalidate any access or refresh token that the application might still possess and remove it from the list. |