How To Get an Authentication Token for System Users IIB Sample

How To Get an Authentication Token for System Users in IIB

Overview

IBM Integration Bus (IIB) is a message bus platform that allows for enterprise level handling of messages. This page assumes that you are already familiar with IIB, but if you would like more information, you can find full product documentation in the IBM Knowledge Center.

This code sample is provided for reference and interfaces with the existing IBM Food Trust APIs. You may incorporate it into your existing IIB infrastructure, or use it as a starting point to get up to speed quickly.

Contents:

• Download files
• Code walkthrough
  • (subflow) Submit IBM Food Trust XML -- submit an XML message to IBM Food Trust
  • (subflow) IBM Food Trust Authenticate -- authenticate with IBM Food Trust
  • IBM Food Trust Submit XML API Flow -- REST API interface that accepts JSON and submits XML to IBM Food Trust
• Try it out!

Download Files

IIB_IFT_authentication_library.zip -- A shared library that handles the communication interchange with the IBM Food Trust authentication service.

IIB_IFT_submit_XML_API.zip -- A full end-to-end sample that includes the IBM Food Trust Authentication Library. It is an HTTP REST service that accepts an XML message and uploads it to the solution network. This can be dropped into your existing IIB environment and customized to fit your needs.

Download the files above and import them into your IIB Toolkit:

1. File -> Import... -> Project Interchange

Code Walkthrough

Because IIB handles messages in the SOAP format natively, some nodes were added to the flows to give the look and feel of a REST API. For example, instead of having subflows encapsulated in TryCatch nodes and throwing errors, local environment variables are set and checked via FilterNodes. A compute node at the end of the main IBM Food Trust Submit XML API Flow checks these variables and sets a 500 Response Header with a meaningful JSON response (to match the format of a successful 201 response).

Local Environment Variables The flows utilize the following variable structure:

• LocalEnvironment
  • Variables
    • IBM Food Trust
      • environment - name of the target IBM Food Trust environment (e.g. PRODUCTION)
      • apikey
      • orgId
      • xml - The XMLNS object of the XML string passed into the flow
      • error_message - message received from an API call
      • error_location - name of the subflow where the error originated from
      • error_message_detail - full context from the API error
      • iam_token
        • access_token
        • token_type
        • expires_in
        • expiration
        • scope
      • service_token
    • message_backup

1. (subflow) Submit XML

Flow highlights:

1. Call Subflow Node: Call the IBM Food Trust_Authenticate subflow (see below)
2. Filter Node: Check to see if the exchange token process was successful.
3. HTTP Request Node: Submit the XML payload to IBM Food Trust with the API key acquired from the IBM Food Trust_Authenticate subflow

2. (subflow) IBM Food Trust Authenticate

Flow highlights:

1. Java Compute Node: Check the local environment variable for an existing token expiration value. If one exists, check it against the current time and if it has expired, obtain a new one; otherwise, skip the flow (too many calls to the obtain IBM Cloud IAM Service will be denied)
2. Compute Node: Back up the existing message since the HTTP Request nodes will overwrite it.
3. Java Compute Node: Call the IBM Cloud IAM service, request a token and store the token in LocalEnvironment Variables.
4. HTTP Request Node: Call the IBM Food Trust Authentication API and exchange the token for a service token.
5. Compute Node: Store the service token in a local environment variable.
6. Compute Node: Restore the original inbound message into the message body.

3. IBM Food Trust Submit XML API Flow

The flow is configured for HTTP path: /ift_submit_xml/

Flow Highlights

1. Compute Node: Read the inbound JSON payload and store the values in local environment variables. Note -- the XML payload was stored as a string, so this node converts the node into a proper XMLNS format and stores it as a local environment variable.
2. Call Subflow Node: Call the Submit_IBM Food Trust_XML subflow from the shared library (see above for details).
3. Filter Node: Check a local environment variable to see if an error message exists and route as needed.
4. Compute Node: Format the error response.

Try it out!

Once deployed to your IIB Integration Node, you can send a JSON payload through the flow. The flow expects the following format:

URL format: http://<integration node>:<debug port>/ift_submit_xml/

Payload format:

Note: If your organization is registered in the IBM Food Trust Integration environment, you can specify "environment": "INTEGRATION",

{
    "environment":  "PRODUCTION",
    "apikey":  "...",
    "orgId": "...",
    "xml" : "<?xml version=\"1.0\" ...."
}   

Sample Postman: