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Quickstart: Connecting to an online identity provider (XAML)

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[This article is for Windows 8.x and Windows Phone 8.x developers writing Windows Runtime apps. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation]

This topic will show you how to connect your Windows Store app to an online identity provider that uses internet authentication and authorization protocols like OpenID or OAuth.

Windows Store apps use Web authentication broker to connect to online identity providers. An app calls the AuthenticateAsync method, which sends a request to the online identity provider, and gets back an access token that describes the provider resources to which the app has access. For a complete example, see Web authentication broker sample. For more information about Web authentication broker, see Web authentication broker. For reference documentation, see Windows.Security.Authentication.Web

When you've finished with this topic, check out the following:

How web authentication broker works

Prerequisites

  • You should be familiar with developing Windows Store apps with C#, Visual Basic, or C++.
  • You should be familiar with the authentication requirements of your online identity provider.

Register your app with your online provider

You must register your app with the online identity provider to which you want to connect. You can find out how to register your app from the identity provider. After registering, the online provider typically gives you an ID for your app.

Build the authentication request URI

The request URI consists of the address where you send the authentication request to your online provider appended with other required information, such as an app ID or secret, a redirect URI where the user is sent after completing authentication, and the expected response type. You can find out from your provider what parameters are required.

The request URI is sent as the requestUri parameter of the AuthenticateAsync method. It must be a secure address (it must start with https://)

The following example shows how to build the request URI.

string startURL = "https://<providerendpoint>?client_id=<clientid>&scope=<scopes>&response_type=token";
string endURL = "http://<appendpoint>";

System.Uri startURI = new System.Uri(startURL);
System.Uri endURI = new System.Uri(endURL);

Connect to the online provider

You call the AuthenticateAsync method to connect to the online identity provider and get an access token. The method takes the URI constructed in the previous step as the requestUri parameter, and a URI to which you want the user to be redirected as the callbackUri parameter.

The following example shows how to connect to an online identity provider.

string result;

try
{
    var webAuthenticationResult = 
        await Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationBroker.AuthenticateAsync( 
        Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationOptions.None, 
        startURI, 
        endURI);

    switch (webAuthenticationResult.ResponseStatus)
    {
        case Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationStatus.Success:
            // Successful authentication. 
            result = webAuthenticationResult.ResponseData.ToString(); 
            break;
        case Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationStatus.ErrorHttp:
            // HTTP error. 
            result = webAuthenticationResult.ResponseErrorDetail.ToString(); 
            break;
        default:
            // Other error.
            result = webAuthenticationResult.ResponseData.ToString(); 
            break;
    } 
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    // Authentication failed. Handle parameter, SSL/TLS, and Network Unavailable errors here. 
    result = ex.Message;
}

Connecting with single sign-on (SSO).

By default, Web authentication broker does not allow cookies to persist. Because of this, even if the app user indicates that they want to stay logged in (for example, by selecting a check box in the provider's login dialog), they will have to login each time they want to access resources for that provider. To login with SSO, your online identity provider must have enabled SSO for Web authentication broker, and your app must call the overload of AuthenticateAsync that does not take a callbackUri parameter.

To support SSO, the online provider must allow you to register a redirect URI in the form ms-app://appSID, where appSID is the SID for your app. You can find your app's SID from the Windows Store developer page for your app, or by calling the GetCurrentApplicationCallbackUri method.

The following example shows how to connect to an online identity provider with SSO.

string result;

try
{
    var webAuthenticationResult = 
        await Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationBroker.AuthenticateAsync( 
        Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationOptions.None, 
        startURI);

    switch (webAuthenticationResult.ResponseStatus)
    {
        case Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationStatus.Success:
            // Successful authentication. 
            result = webAuthenticationResult.ResponseData.ToString(); 
            break;
        case Windows.Security.Authentication.Web.WebAuthenticationStatus.ErrorHttp:
            // HTTP error. 
            result = webAuthenticationResult.ResponseErrorDetail.ToString(); 
            break;
        default:
            // Other error.
            result = webAuthenticationResult.ResponseData.ToString(); 
            break;
    } 
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    // Authentication failed. Handle parameter, SSL/TLS, and Network Unavailable errors here. 
    result = ex.Message;
}

Summary

In this topic, we showed how to connect to an online identity provider, both with and without SSO enabled.

Web authentication broker sample

Web authentication broker

Windows.Security.Authentication.Web