picketlink-authentication-rs-endpoint: PicketLink JAX-RS Authentication Endpoint

Author: Pedro Igor Level: Beginner Technologies: CDI, PicketLink, JAX-RS Summary: Basic example that demonstrates how to create a JAX-RS Authentication Endpoint using PicketLink Target Product: EAP Source: https://github.com/jboss-jdf/jboss-as-quickstart/

What is it?

This example demonstrates the use of CDI 1.0 and PicketLink in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7.

You'll learn from this quickstart how to use PicketLink to create a JAX-RS Authentication Endpoint.

This application provides an JAX-RS Authentication Endpoint supporting different credentials types. You can authenticate using a username/password combination or a pre-defined token. This first maps to a JSON format and the last is just a simple string which represents the token.

The endpoints provides a single entry point for all authentication requests (eg.: /authenticate) returning a JSON payload when the authentication runs successfully.

Each credential type maps to a specific content type. When an authentication request arrives, it is dispatched to a specific method that knows how to handle a specific credential. If the request was sent using an invalid/unsupported content type, the server returns a HTTP Status 415.

To validate these credential types, we have configured PicketLink to use a custom authenticator. This authenticator is who knows how to process the different credential types and validate them accordingly.

To send authentication requests we're using the JQuery API and AJAX.

Is also provided a JAX-RS endpoint for logout.

The latest PicketLink documentation is available here.

System requirements

All you need to build this project is Java 6.0 (Java SDK 1.6) or better, Maven 3.0 or better.

The application this project produces is designed to be run on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7.

Configure Maven

If you have not yet done so, you must Configure Maven before testing the quickstarts.

Start JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7 with the Web Profile

1. Open a command line and navigate to the root of the JBoss server directory.

2. The following shows the command line to start the server with the web profile:

    For Linux:   JBOSS_HOME/bin/standalone.sh
    For Windows: JBOSS_HOME\bin\standalone.bat
   

Build and Deploy the Quickstart

NOTE: The following build command assumes you have configured your Maven user settings. If you have not, you must include Maven setting arguments on the command line. See Build and Deploy the Quickstarts for complete instructions and additional options.

1. Make sure you have started the JBoss Server as described above.

2. Open a command line and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

3. Type this command to build and deploy the archive:

    mvn clean package jboss-as:deploy
   

4. This will deploy target/jboss-as-picketlink-authentication-rs-endpoint.war to the running instance of the server.

Access the application

The application will be running at the following URL: http://localhost:8080/jboss-as-picketlink-authentication-rs-endpoint.

Undeploy the Archive

1. Make sure you have started the JBoss Server as described above.

2. Open a command line and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

3. When you are finished testing, type this command to undeploy the archive:

    mvn jboss-as:undeploy
   

Run the Quickstart in JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse

You can also start the server and deploy the quickstarts from Eclipse using JBoss tools. For more information, see Use JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse to Run the Quickstarts

Debug the Application

If you want to debug the source code or look at the Javadocs of any library in the project, run either of the following commands to pull them into your local repository. The IDE should then detect them.

    mvn dependency:sources
    mvn dependency:resolve -Dclassifier=javadoc