When to Use a Custom OAuth App

Creating a custom OAuth app is required in the web flow. Creating a custom OAuth app is optional for desktop and headless applications; the driver is already registered with Exact Online and you can connect with its embedded credentials. Creating a custom OAuth app is optional as the driver is already registered with Exact Online and you can connect with its embedded credentials.

You might want to create a custom OAuth app to change the information displayed when users log into Exact Online to grant permissions to the driver.

Desktop Authentication with a Custom OAuth App

Follow the steps below to authenticate with the credentials for a custom OAuth app. See Creating a Custom OAuth App.

Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your app.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your app.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the redirect URI defined when you registered your app.
• Region: Set this to the region of the Exact Online server you want to connect to.
• Division: Set this to the division of the Exact Online administration.

When you connect the driver opens the OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The driver then completes the OAuth process:

1. Extracts the access token from the callback URL and authenticates requests.
2. Refreshes the access token when it expires.
3. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.

Web Authentication with a Custom OAuth App

When connecting via a Web application, you need to register a custom OAuth app with Exact Online. See Creating a Custom OAuth App. You can then use the driver to get and manage the OAuth token values.

Get an OAuth Access Token

Set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuthAccessToken:

• OAuthClientId: The client Id in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your app settings.
• OAuthCallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI in your app settings.
• Region: Set this to the region of the Exact Online server you want to connect to.
• Division: Set this to the division of the Exact Online administration.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to OFF.

You can then call stored procedures to complete the OAuth exchange:

1. Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationUrl stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB and set the CallbackURL input to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.

   The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint.

2. Open the URL, log in, and authorize the application. You are redirected back to the callback URL.
3. Call the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB. Set the Verifier input to the "code" parameter in the query string of the callback URL.

Refresh the OAuth Access Token

You can set InitiateOAuth to REFRESH to automatically refresh the OAuth access token when it expires, or you can call the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure to refresh the token manually.

Automatic Refresh

• OAuthAccessToken: Set this to the access token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the path where the driver will save the OAuth values, to be persisted across connections.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your app settings.
• OAuthRefreshToken: Set this to the refresh token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
• Region: Set this to the region of the Exact Online server you want to connect to.
• Division: Set this to the division of the Exact Online administration.

Manual Refresh

You can use the RefreshOAuthAccessToken stored procedure to manually refresh the OAuthAccessToken. Call the stored procedure after the ExpiresIn parameter value returned by GetOAuthAccessToken has elapsed. You need the following connection properties to be set:

• Region: Set this to the region of the Exact Online server you want to connect to.
• Division: Set this to the division of the Exact Online administration.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to OFF.

You can then call RefreshOAuthAccessToken with the following parameter set:

• OAuthRefreshToken: Set this to the OAuthRefreshToken returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.