API call

POST https://apiserver/freespace/users

Body

{
  "name": "Melania Carmella",
  "email": "m.carmella@ramseytech.co.uk"
}

1. Check that m.carmella@ramseytech.co.uk is not already registered. If so, the workflow stops and there is a 409 response (see desired responses below).
2. Create a record for Melania Carmella. Also generate a primary key (user ID) and confirmation token for her. This token is preferably a UUID. The token is saved against the record.
3. Using the token a hyperlink is created. See the next API User confirmation for what the URL of this hyperlink is.
4. This hyperlink is mailed to Melania as part of her confirmation email.
5. The server returns 201 response for the request.
6. If at any stage, there are exceptions/errors, a 500 response is returned.

Headers

HTTP/1.1 201 USER-CREATED

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 409 USER-EXISTS

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR
Content-Type: text/plain

Body

This is an example error message

This particular URL is not an API call done via AJAX, but it appears inside the body of the confirmation email after he registers. Naturally, clicking on the link inside the email will trigger this script to execute.

URL

https://apiserver/freeserver/actions/confirm?token=token-generated-for-melania's-confirmation

1. The token field in the querystring is checked against Melania's database record.
2. If the token is invalid, then a 307 response is returned as described. This takes Melania's browser to page that says that her token is invalid (invalid-token.html).
3. For a valid token, this token is discarded immediately and a new token, called the provisional token, is generated so that Melania can set her password.
4. The provisional token and Melania's primary key (user ID) are appended to the URL where Melania should be redirected for setting her password (set-password.html)
5. A 302 response is sent so that Melania can set her password.
6. An exception or other unexpected errors lead to a 500 response and should redirect the browser to a sorry page (unexpected-error.html)

Headers

HTTP/1.1 302 VALID-TOKEN
Location: https://apiserver/freeserver/set-password.html?userid=primary-key-for-melania&token=a-uuid-provisional-token-to-set-password

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 307 INVALID-TOKEN
Location: https://apiserver/freespace/invalid-confirmation-token.html

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR
Location: https://apiserver/freespace/unexpected-error.html

API call

PATCH https://apiserver/freespace/users/melania's-user-id

Headers

Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer provisional-token-for-melania

Body

{
  password: melania's-new-password
}

1. First, the server checks if the user ID passed in the URL is in the database. If no such user ID exists, a 404 error is returned.
2. Next, once the server finds that the ID belongs to Melania, it extracts the passed provisional token which is part of Authorization header in the request.
3. If the passed token does not match the one in the database, then a 401 response is returned.
4. If the tokens match, then a 200 response is returned.
5. For any exceptions along the way, a 500 response is returned.

Headers

HTTP/1.1 204 DONE

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 404 USER-NOT-FOUND

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 401 INVALID-TOKEN

Body: None </code>

Headers

HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR
Content-Type: text/plain

Body

This is a sample error message

API call

POST https://apiserver/freespace/oauth/token

Headers

Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Basic meliania's-username-and-password-in-base64

Please note that in Basic authorization mechanism, the username and password are appended with a colon (:) in between. This string is then converted to Base64 encoding.

For instance, let's assume that Melania's password is m3l@n1@.
First, we'd form a string combining the username, colon and password, i.e. m.carmella@ramseytech.co.uk:m3l@n1@
This string is then converted into Base64, which would be bS5jYXJtZWxsYUByYW1zZXl0ZWNoLmNvLnVrOm0zbEBuMUA=. This strange-looking string is what is sent in the Authorization header after the world Basic.

Body

{
  "grant_type": "client_credentials",
  "scope": "all:all"
}

1. The server checks if the email address is among the list of users registered. If not so, then a 404 is sent.
2. Next, the server checks if the password entered by the user matches the one in the database. If not so, then a 401 is returned.
3. If the credentials match, then the server generates a UUID-based token. This token is returned to the client. This token identifies the user in all further communication.
4. The token request and exchange follow the OAuth 2.0 protocol, using the client credentials method.

Headers

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

Body

{
  "access_token": "access-token-for-melania",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "scope": "all:all"
}

HTTP/1.1 404 USER-NOT-FOUND

Body: None

HTTP/1.1 401 INVALID-PASSWORD

Body: None

API call

https://apiserver/freespace/recovery-requests

Headers

Content-Type: application/json

Body

{
  "email": "m.carmella@ramseytech.co.uk"
}

1. The server checks if the email address, for which the password is being reset, exists. If not so, then a 404 is returned.
2. The server generates a provisional token using which the user can reset the password.
3. A recovery URL is sent to the user. This URL embeds the token. The recovery endpoint is the same as the confirmation URL sent during registration.
4. Further workflow is the same as the User confirmation workflow.

Headers

HTTP/1.1 204 DONE

Body: None

There is no body in the response, but an email is sent with the recovery URL.

Headers

HTTP/1.1 404 USER-NOT-FOUND

Body: None

Headers

HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR
Content-Type: text/plain

Body

This is a sample error message.

API call

GET https://apiserver/freespace/users/me

Headers

Authorization: Bearer access-token-of-the-user

Body: none

1. The server examines the token. If no token is passed, then a 401 is returned.
2. The server fetches the profile from the database based on the user ID.
3. The server returns the profile along with a 200.
4. If any errors / exceptions occur, then 500 is returned.

Headers

Content-Type: application/json

Body

{
  "name": "Melania Carmella",
  "email": "m.carmella@ramseytech.co.uk",
  "phone": "+44 20 7946 0292",
  "city": {
    "id": "45fed8b2-8016-11e8-b6f0-334f2875887b",
    "name": "London"
  },
  "preferredBuilding": {
    "id": "60a935c2-8016-11e8-866a-dbc0c4481511",
    "name": "High Holborn"
  },
  "preferredFloor": {
    "id": "ad8b56e0-8016-11e8-a81a-13db06616260",
    "name": "1st"
  },
  "preferredDepartment": {
    "id": "c9985f90-8016-11e8-88f4-e3c3676aed2e",
    "name": "Research and Development"
  }
}

Headers

HTTP/1.1 401 INVALID-TOKEN

Body: none

Headers

HTTP/1.1 500 ERROR
Content-Type: text/plain

Body

This is a sample error message.