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050 OAuth 2 for Me and You (Social Login Lowdown) with Matt Gifford

By Michaela Light 2 Comments

Matt Gifford talks about “OAuth 2 for Me and You (Social Login Lowdown)” in this episode of CF Alive podcast, with host Michaela Light.

Episode highlights:

  • Why use OAuth 2?
    • Saves complex login code
    • Easier for user – no more forgotten passwords
    • Single Sign On
    • Less PCI security issues – not storing emails and password
  • What is OAuth 2
    • Social login using FB, TW, Google, GitHub, BitBucket, Link, Microsoft Live, Instagram, Yahoo
    • OAuth 2 is totally different protocol from OAuth 1
      • Much simpler now
      • More secure
      • Adds scope – what permissions does it want from your FB (name, email, can post etc)
  • How does it work?
    • Header based
    • Signature = Token + key
    • JSON or URL
  • What are the the alternatives?
    • OpenID
    • SAML
  • How to use OAuth 2 from ColdFusion
    • Use a wrapper
  • What is your favor wrapper?
    • MonkehTweets
  • How to register your app with FB and other providers
    • Local dev, staging and production URLs
    • Call back URL
    • Scope
    • Client ID + token secret value
      • Save locally (not in the cloud)
      • Later option to revoke or regenerate these if you are hacked
  • What does OAuth 2 Cost?
    • Open source – free
    • Time to set up code and registration
  • CF in Cyprus
  • Why are you proud to use CF?
  • WWIT for you to make CF more alive this year?
    • Modern
    • CommandBox REPL
    • ForgeBox package management
    • Open source contributions
  • What are you looking forward to at CFCAMP?

Authentication is key when dealing with the web, certainly when calling, liaising with and using external API services. You may even need to implement ( or may already have ) your own authentication service for your apps or for others to use.

In this session, Matt will discuss the OAuth 2 protocol, what it means to be a consumer or provider, and how to navigate the handshake communications between the service. At the end of this session, you will walk taller, safe in the fact that you are filled with knowledge of OAuth 2, how to use it and how to build your own service.

Mentioned in this episode:

Bio

Matt Gifford is owner and primary primate at his own development consultancy company, monkehWorks Ltd. His work primarily focuses on building mobile apps and ColdFusion development, although he's such a geek he enjoys writing in a variety of languages.

He's a published author and presents at conferences and user groups on a variety of topics. As an Adobe Community Professional and Adobe User Group manager, Matt is a keen proponent for community resources and sharing knowledge.

He is the author of “Object-Oriented Programming in ColdFusion” and “PhoneGap Mobile Application Development Cookbook” and also contributes articles and tutorials to international industry magazines. Visit Matt at www.monkehworks.com or @coldfumonkeh on Twitter.

Interview transcript:

Michael:          Welcome back to the show. I'm here with Matt Gifford, and he's joining me from Cyprus which is hot and sunny as opposed to England where I am right now which is kind of a little dreary actually. I think I was a good move you made there Matt. And we're going to be talking about OAuth 2, and how you can use that do really amazing logins on your ColdFusion apps. And we'll look at how it works, what it is, how you can use it in ColdFusion. And we’ll ask him what his favorite rapper is; and I mean code rapper, not music rapper there.

And we’ll also look at some of the intricacies of registering your app with Facebook, and Twitter, and Google and some of the other providers you can use OAuth with. And so, if you haven't met Matt before, he is a cool guy. He used to run the user group for ColdFusion in England, and he's also presented a lot of different conferences. And his company ‘Monkey Works’ does mobile apps in ColdFusion development. And he's also written a book. What's your book Matt?

Matt:               I've written a few books. The first one, I was object oriented programming in ColdFusion. I’ve written ‘Find Out Application Development’, and very quickly updated ‘Find Out For Application Development’. And a lot of magazine tutorials, and articles for UK, and [inaudible] [01:28] magazine as well.

Michael:          Well, great! Was wonderful to have you on the show today.

Matt:               Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Read more

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