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I need to integrate with a service that uses an authentication flow I'm not familiar with and wondering can I use Named Credentials with it?

The flow requires that I first get a JWT token by passing a username & password in a JSON body. Then I can use that as a regular bearer token.

  1. Get token, which returns {"securityToken": "TOKEN"}
curl --request POST \
  --url https://SERVICE_URL/token \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "Username": "USERNAME",
    "Password": "PASSWORD"
}'
  1. Call secured endpoint
curl --request GET \
  --url https://SERVICE_URL/record \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer TOKEN'

Is this a common authentication flow and, if so, is there a common name for it?

Can I Use Salesforce Named Credentials with this kind of flow or will I need to manually call out for the token?

Diego
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    You will need to implement this in Apex without NC. – identigral Nov 12 '21 at 16:59
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    Named Credentials due support "Password Authentication" so you can keep the password masked and never expose it in your code. However, there is not "automagic" support to login and then use the response in subsequent HTTP headers. The only authentication mechanism that supports this would be OAuth / Auth. Provider. – Bryan Anderson Nov 12 '21 at 17:44
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    @Bryan Anderson There's a non-oAuth automagic support to login and then use the response in subsequent headers, just not the kind in this question. See https://salesforce.stackexchange.com/questions/269385/named-credentials-what-is-the-difference-between-jwt-jwt-token-exchange for more info – identigral Nov 12 '21 at 18:03

1 Answers1

2

Named Credentials cannot be used to handle this authentication flow, but the feature can be leveraged to get the token without having to resort to something like Custom Settings for storing the username & password.

  1. Create a Named Credential specifically for getting the token.

    Property Value Notes
    Label SERVICE Token Request Naming intends to specify that this is only for the token.
    URL https://SERVICE_URL/token Again, very specific to just the token call.
    Identity Type Named Principal This particular example uses the same username/password for all users.
    Authentication Protocol Password Authentication
    Username USERNAME The username required for the token request.
    Password PASSWORD The password required for the token request.
    Generate Authorization Header false If enabled, Salesforce will generate an authorization header, but the external service does not want it. The external service expects the username and password as separate properties in JSON.
    Allow Merge Fields in HTTP Body true Enabling this will allow usage of the username & password fields in apex.

  2. Anonymous Apex

HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
req.setEndpoint('callout:SERVICE_Token_Request');
req.setMethod('POST');
req.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
req.setBody('{"Username":"{!HTMLENCODE($Credential.Username)}",' +
            '"Password":"{!HTMLENCODE($Credential.Password)}"}');

Http http = new Http();
HTTPResponse res = http.send(req);
Map<String, Object> response = (Map<String, Object>)JSON.deserializeUntyped(res.getBody());
String securityToken = (String)response.get('securityToken');
System.debug(securityToken); // TOKEN
Diego
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