Session Key Authentication

All the APIs require authentication. Once authenticated, you are provided a session key. Nearly all methods require a session key as the first parameter. For the JSON/RPC API, you call this method to begin:

	/**
	 * Authenticate user
	 *
	 * @param login    user's username
	 * @param password user's password
	 * @return session key if authentication is successful, "-1" if authentication fails for any reason
	 * @module User
	 * @usertype None
	 */
	public String authenticate(String login, String password) { ... }

Duration

Session Keys are generally valid for 30 minutes of inactivity; though, their duration is configurable. Furthermore, the duration of a session key is extended as it is used. If you want to extend the duration of a session key, then you can "tickle" it by invoking the following:

FlexClient client = new FlexClient(url);
String tickleTime = (new Date()).toString();
LabelValueBean bean = new LabelValueBean();
bean.setLabel("TickleTime");
bean.setValue(tickleTime);
client.setUserPreference(sessionKey, bean);

Please note: that this example is being illustrated with the Java API components (FlexClient, et al). However, the underlying call is available in the JSON/RPC API, and the approach (and data) are the same. Here's the setUserPreference() call:

	
    /**
	 * Set a user preference value in the database
	 *
	 * @param sessionKey user's session key
	 * @param bean       key/value pair with the user preference name / value
	 * @return <code>true</code> if successful, <code>false</code> otherwise
	 * @module User
	 * @usertype None
	 */
	public boolean setUserPreference(String sessionKey, LabelValueBean bean) { ... }

Please use the "TickleTime" preference name; this is a reserved word in NetX's preference system.

Session key-related properties