Box.NET C# Silent Authentication (Without User Intervention)

Edit Subject

I need to write an interface between Box.NET and an enterprise document management system. This interface will have to authenticate against the Box.NET service silently (without the user having to enter authentication details), and then mass download files from multiple users within the same company. My question is three pronged:

- Does Box.NET support a silent authentication mechanism that will allow me to authenticate without user intervention from a c#.NET application.

- Can file download be achieved via the Box.NET API without user intervention.

- What would be the recommended method of downloading all of the files across multiple users from the same company? Would you need to authenticate against each user account sequentially and then download their respective files?

7 people have
this question +1

EMPLOYEE

1

Edit

Delete

Remove

Official

Jeremy Glassenberg (Official Rep) March 26, 2011 00:35

Hi Sean,

Our API requires that users manually login at least once to connect a Box account to a third party app. This is partly for security (making sure user passwords aren't shared, making sure users have control of their own Box accounts, etc), but Box also has a policy against white labeling.

However, when Enterprise customers create custom applications for internal use, we can sometimes provide alternative features. You'd have to discuss such integrations with our team by contacting developers@box.net.

I should also emphasize that our auth_tokens do not expire over time, although they can be deleted by users. This means that processes can be automated by having users login to Box.net one time, and be remembered from then on.

good answer! good answer! (undo)
- view 0 more comments
- Jean Pierre Casanova November 01, 2011 03:56
  
  if I get the Enterprise box.net service, can I get a silent authentication for php??
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- Jeremy Glassenberg (Official Rep) November 01, 2011 06:57
  
  Hi Jean,
  
  If you have an enterprise account and are building an app for internal purposes, we can discuss the alternative authentication process.
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- Cancel
Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
What's the status of this question?

Hi Sean, Our API requires that users manually login at least once to connect a Box account to a third party app. This is partly for security (making sure user passwords aren't shared, making sure users have control of their own Box accounts, etc), but Box also has a policy against white labeling. However, when Enterprise customers create custom applications for internal use, we can sometimes provide alternative features. You'd have to discuss such integrations with our team by contacting developers@box.net. I should also emphasize that our auth_tokens do not expire over time, although they can be deleted by users. This means that processes can be automated by having users login to Box.net one time, and be remembered from then on.

How does this make you feel? Add Image

I'm
e.g. happy, confident, thankful, excited sad, anxious, confused, frustrated indifferent, undecided, unconcerned kidding, amused, unsure, silly
Cancel
I’m happy

0

Edit

Delete

Remove

Official

Pedram Soheil April 25, 2011 16:08

Thanks Jeremy. I was actually looking for the same exact thing, so this helps.

Comment

good answer! good answer! (undo)
- Cancel
Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
What's the status of this question?

Thanks Jeremy. I was actually looking for the same exact thing, so this helps.

How does this make you feel? Add Image

I'm
e.g. happy, confident, thankful, excited sad, anxious, confused, frustrated indifferent, undecided, unconcerned kidding, amused, unsure, silly
Cancel
EMPLOYEE

0

Edit

Delete

Remove

Official

Jeremy Glassenberg (Official Rep) April 25, 2011 19:46

Great! If you're building an internal app for an enterprise customer too, just shoot us an email and we'll help you out.

Comment

good answer! good answer! (undo)
- Cancel
Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
What's the status of this question?

Great! If you're building an internal app for an enterprise customer too, just shoot us an email and we'll help you out.

How does this make you feel? Add Image

I'm
e.g. happy, confident, thankful, excited sad, anxious, confused, frustrated indifferent, undecided, unconcerned kidding, amused, unsure, silly
Cancel
0

Edit

Delete

Remove

Official

Pedram Soheil April 25, 2011 19:47

Already did, and just got a response back from the box dev team a few minutes ago. Thanks for the prompt response!

Comment

good answer! good answer! (undo)
- Cancel
Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
What's the status of this question?

Already did, and just got a response back from the box dev team a few minutes ago. Thanks for the prompt response!

How does this make you feel? Add Image

I'm
e.g. happy, confident, thankful, excited sad, anxious, confused, frustrated indifferent, undecided, unconcerned kidding, amused, unsure, silly
Cancel
0

Edit

Delete

Remove

Official

ra October 21, 2011 16:18

it would be useful for me to have a synchronous command line authentication method. the app I'm creating is intended to run as a console app from a thumbdrive and sync one file only. having to start a browser just to authenticate is about 100x overkill.

good answer! good answer! (undo)
- view -1 more comments
- Jeremy Glassenberg (Official Rep) October 24, 2011 20:44
  
  Hi ra,
  
  For security and usability reasons, we have to enforce the standard, Oauth-like login process. However, if you absolutely need an alternative for your app, feel free to email us at developers@box.net and we can discuss your situation further.
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- Cancel
Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
What's the status of this question?

it would be useful for me to have a synchronous command line authentication method. the app I'm creating is intended to run as a console app from a thumbdrive and sync one file only. having to start a browser just to authenticate is about 100x overkill.

How does this make you feel? Add Image

I'm
e.g. happy, confident, thankful, excited sad, anxious, confused, frustrated indifferent, undecided, unconcerned kidding, amused, unsure, silly
Cancel
0

Edit

Delete

Remove

Official

production December 17, 2011 17:36

Jeremy,

We are creating a mobile app for both iOS and android where the user will send us some document into our box.net account. So we wanted to use our box.net credentials to auto upload the document into our web folder.
It seems that if the app cannot do silent upload then can we authenticate the credential once and then release the app with that authenticated token. We just need 1 way flow of information into our box.net account.

But our app should be able to do this upload for any user. Please respond at the earliest since this has stopped our development in its tracks.

Thanks

good answer! good answer! (undo)
- view 3 more comments
- production December 17, 2011 17:41
  
  To be clear we are only logging to our own account; so essentially the app uploads user chosen document to our box.net account.
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- Jeremy Glassenberg (Official Rep) December 17, 2011 21:30
  
  Hi production,
  
  Is this app meant for public distribution (something that will end up on the Apple marketplace)? Or is this meant to be an internal app?
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- production December 18, 2011 00:31
  
  It is meant for Public distribution. It will be on the Apple marketplace. We were hoping to create a cloud based application without writing server side code. Let me know - it would be great because we were trying to create a pure cloud based app without server side code and box.net service was a big piece of the architecture.
  
  Thanks.
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- Jeremy Glassenberg (Official Rep) December 18, 2011 00:43
  
  Hi production,
  
  Our Terms of Service require that users be registered for their own Box accounts, and that they be aware that they're connecting to Box (no "white labeling"). So there would be other concerns than the technical issues mentioned here. Feel free to contact us at developers@box.com to discuss further. We'll need to know more about your app's intended use of Box before we can provide the best recommendations.
  
  Edit
  
  Delete
  
  Remove
- Cancel
- Restore
  
  This comment was removed on 2012-03-01.
  see the change log
- Cancel
Edit Your Reply (some HTML allowed)
What's the status of this question?

Jeremy, We are creating a mobile app for both iOS and android where the user will send us some document into our box.net account. So we wanted to use our box.net credentials to auto upload the document into our web folder. It seems that if the app cannot do silent upload then can we authenticate the credential once and then release the app with that authenticated token. We just need 1 way flow of information into our box.net account. But our app should be able to do this upload for any user. Please respond at the earliest since this has stopped our development in its tracks. Thanks

How does this make you feel? Add Image

I'm
e.g. happy, confident, thankful, excited sad, anxious, confused, frustrated indifferent, undecided, unconcerned kidding, amused, unsure, silly
Cancel