Problem

  • OpenID is complex, limited and hard to use for users
  • Facebook / Twitter / Myspace / Google / MS-LiveId / AOL connections require different libraries and knowledge
  • Multiple heterogenouse providers are hard to map to a single user

Solution

  • Use RPX for universal and usable user login
  • Use view/controller helpers for easy integration

Single Interface for all providers Visitors choose from providers they already have

Usage

  • Get an API key @ RPX
  • run MIGRATION
  • Build login view
  • Communicate with RPX API in controller to create or login User
  • for more advanced features have a look at the RPX API Docs

Install

  • As Rails plugin: script/plugin install git://github.com/grosser/rpx_now.git
  • As gem: sudo gem install grosser-rpx_now --source http://gems.github.com/

Examples

View

#'mywebsite' is your subdomain/realm on RPX
<%=RPXNow.embed_code('mywebsite',rpx_token_sessions_url)%>
OR
<%=RPXNow.popup_code('Login here...','mywebsite',rpx_token_sessions_url,:language=>'de')%>

popup_code can also be called with :unobstrusive=>true

Environment

Rails::Initializer.run do |config|
  config.gem "grosser-rpx_now", :lib => "rpx_now", :source => "http://gems.github.com/"
  ...
end
RPXNow.api_key = "YOU RPX API KEY"

Controller

# user_data
# found: {:name=>'John Doe', :username => 'john', :email=>'[email protected]', :identifier=>'blug.google.com/openid/dsdfsdfs3f3'}
# not found: nil (can happen with e.g. invalid tokens)
def rpx_token
  raise "hackers?" unless data = RPXNow.user_data(params[:token])
  self.current_user = User.find_by_identifier(data[:identifier]) || User.create!(data)
  redirect_to '/'
end

# raw request processing
RPXNow.user_data(params[:token]){|raw| {:email=>raw['profile']['verifiedEmail']} }

# raw request with extended parameters (most users and APIs do not supply them)
RPXNow.user_data(params[:token], :extended=>'true'){|raw| ...have a look at the RPX API DOCS...}

Advanced

Versions

RPXNow.api_version = 2

Mappings

You can map your primary keys (e.g. user.id) to identifiers, so that
users can login to the same account with multiple identifiers. RPXNow.map(identifier, primary_key) #add a mapping RPXNow.unmap(identifier, primary_key) #remove a mapping RPXNow.mappings(primary_key) # [identifier1,identifier2,...] RPXNow.all_mappings # [["1",['google.com/dsdas','yahoo.com/asdas']], ["2",[...]], ... ]

After a primary key is mapped to an identifier, when a user logs in with this identifier,
RPXNow.user_data will contain his primaryKey as :id.
A identifyer can only belong to one user (in doubt the last one it was mapped to)

User integration (e.g. ActiveRecord)

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  include RPXNow::UserIntegration
end

user.rpx.identifiers == RPXNow.mappings(user.id)
user.rpx.map(identifier) == RPXNow.map(identifier, user.id)
user.rpx.unmap(identifier) == RPXNow.unmap(identifier, user.id)

Contacts (PRX Pro)

Retrieve all contacts for a given user: RPXNow.contacts(identifier).each {|c| puts "#{c['displayName']}: #c['emails']}

Status updates (PRX Pro)

Send a status update to provider (a tweet/facebook-status/...) : RPXNow.set_status(identifier, "I just registered at yourdomain.com ...")

TODO

  • add provider / credentials helpers ?

Author

Contributors

Michael Grosser
[email protected]
Hereby placed under public domain, do what you want, just do not hold me accountable...