API Authentication • objr

How authentication works

The first time you send a request, the API requires your Objective Connect user email address and password to authenticate.

Each successful response from the API includes a token. This token can then be used to authenticate subsequent requests in your session, negating the need to repeatedly supply your email address and password.

The rest of this article details how to manage authentication when using the objr package.

First request

You will need your Objective Connect user email address and password to make a first request to the API. These can be provided in two ways.

R Environment variables

Add two variables to your .Renviron file to define your email address and password.

Open your .Renviron file to edit:
```
usethis::edit_r_environ()
```
Add two variables as follows (replacing XXX with your credentials):
```
OBJR_USR = "XXX"
OBJR_PWD = "XXX"
```
Save and close the .Renviron file.
To check this has worked as expected, first restart your R session then run:
```
Sys.getenv("OBJR_USR")
Sys.getenv("OBJR_PWD")
```
Your credentials should be printed in the console.

Note: It is important not to save your R session workspace on close as your console may contain your Objective Connect credentials.

The benefit of this method is that you can leave this information in your .Renviron file and objr will automatically find them here each time you use the package.

Supply credentials when prompted

If you don’t have these variables defined in your .Renviron file, objr will prompt you to supply them if you’re working in an interactive session.

A small pop-up window with prompt 'Enter email registered with Objective Connect' followed by a text input box and buttons to select 'OK' or 'Cancel'.

Subsequent requests

Each successful API response includes a token that can be used for subsequent requests. objr functions automatically parse this token from the API response and store it in your R session’s global environment.

Where this object exists, objr will automatically use it to authenticate subsequent requests.

If this object doesn’t exist, objr will resort to using your username and password, as it did for your first request.