User Management

User management tasks are part of all web service implementations to some degree. They include logging in and out and authentication of users, managing password errors and warnings and/or updating passwords, and properly linking users to My BackPack functionality. Whether you are setting up a relatively simple single sign on between a school’s website and My BackPack, or a complex application that links to specific pages of My BackPack functionality, some or all of these user management tasks will need to be part of your processing.

Even if you are just authenticating users against the Ascendance database, or have an application that only uses an administrative connection to retrieve and/or update other types of data, you must still use the loginExt method to receive an authentication token for use when calling other methods, and you may need to provide some logic for handling any errors or warnings related to logins or passwords.

All of these tasks relate to methods in the UserManagementService. The following topics provide some additional background and tips for smoothly implementing common user management functions:

• Single Sign On and Authentication details the steps involved in implementing a single sign on and provides other information about the authentication process, including the use and management of authentication tokens.
• Password Management describes the considerations for password update and handling of errors and warnings related to passwords that may be received as part of the login process.
• Deep Linking To My BackPack Functionality details the procedure to link users to My BackPack pages, whether as part of a single sign on implementation or a more complex application with embedded functionality.