In this video, we are going to look at how to configure the new generic OAuth2 token which can then be used with the generic REST connector in forms as well as process model. However, before that, lets first understand the use case as it is not very common.

As you might already know, AgilePoint already supports a lot of of OOTB connectors for popular line of business systems like SharePoint, Salesforce, Dynamics CRM, Document Repositories etc. However we also provide generic REST, WCF, SOAP, OData connectors for connecting to systems for which integration might not exist OOTB. Out of these, the REST connector is most commonly used to connect to the custom home grown systems or the ones which do not exist OOTB as most systems have some sort of REST API already available and is more of a standard for API.

However, there can situations where your custom REST service might be protected with OAuth2 authentication. In our REST shape we already used to support support lots of OAuth2 token types but there can always be a boundary case where REST service is protected with a home grown OAuth2 system or something which was not supported by AgilePoint for authentication OOTB. The only option previously in this case was to work with AgilePoint services team to create a new access token type for your system and expose it in the portal so that the REST connector can use it.

This is a known challenge for products which deal with integration and what can make it even more complex is the fact that there are lot of variations which exist in OAuth2 spec which means different services might implement authentication differently.

The most famous API testing tool used in the market is called Postman. Perhaps every developer has used it at some point in their career. Postman addresses this challenge by providing a generic OAuth2 configuration screen where user can choose which OAuth2 flow he intends to use and provide inputs for the corresponding parameters.

With AgilePoint NX 8.0, we are introducing similar capability where you could create a generic OAuth2 token which can then be used with the REST connector for process and forms and hence won’t need to develop a new access token type for your home grown OAuth2 system. Though this is not a common use case, it does save a considerable time for your developers if they run into such scenario.

As I mentioned previously in the article that OAuth2 has so many variations that it is perhaps virtually impossible to handle all the scenarios and grant types but with this it should cover most of the home grown implementations. For special cases where this still does not meet the requirement, you can work with AgilePoint Professional Services team to get a specific access token type for your system. Please note that this token type is used only with REST connector as of now.

Lets look at this in action.