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Contents of this guide

With this guide you will learn how to create the internal Application Workbench account and how to connect it to the EPISODES Platform so that the Platform will be able to access the applications you created. We will also explain why this account has to be created as an addition to your EPISODES Platform account.

Why creating a new account is required?

The Application Workbench is a service which manages GIT repositories created for your custom application. While it supports authentication using the Single Sign-On (SSO) mechanisms of the EPISODES Platform, allowing you to log in with the Platform's credentials, it also allows you to manage and edit your code from outside of the Platform (see also Editing the application code). For this purpose, the Application Workbench requires creating an internal account. In most cases, the account will be created automatically once you log in to the Application Workbench, however, in some rare cases - when the default account name is already taken, you will be required to fill the details of this account.

If you will be editing your application code only through the Web interface of the Application Workbench, you will not be required to log in with this account (logging in through the EPISODES Platform SSO will be sufficient). However, to create more advanced applications, editing the code outside of the Application Workbench (from your own computer) might be advisable, and for this purpose you will use this internal account.

Creating the account

The account within the Application Workbench can be created only after authenticating through the EPISODES Platform authentication system (people who are not the EPISODES Platform users are not authorized to create an account). Therefore, the first thing you will have to do after entering the Application Workbench is logging in with this authentication system. To do this, first use the Login button at the right upper corner of the service (Figure 1) or use the direct link: https://epos-apps.grid.cyfronet.pl/user/oauth2/unity.

Figure 1. Application Workbench main page with Login button marked.

Upon this action, you will be redirected to EPISODES Platform authentication system, where you will be prompted for your EPISODES Platform user and password (see also this section in the Quick Start Guide) or automatically logged in, if your session with the EPISODES Platform is already active. This action will automatically create an Application Workbench account for you, using the part before '@' of your EPISODES Platform username as the account name - e.g. if your username for EPISODES Platform was tcs-est-user@tcs.ah-epos.eu, the account name for Application Workbench will be tcs-test-user. You will see this account name within the screen that appears next (see Figure 2) - which is a view of an empty (with no applications yet) Application Workbench.

Figure 2. Application Workbench view after creation of the account (after first login)

In rare cases, when the default account name (the part before '@' of your EPISODES Platform username) is already taken, you will be prompted to create an account name yourself (Figure 3). Your e-mail and the default account name will be already pre-filled, however, as the account name was already used within the system, you will have to modify it (the e-mail does not have to be modified).

Figure 3. Creating new account name when the default is already taken

Connecting EPISODES Platform with Application Workbench account

Once the Application Workbench account is set, you are able to access the Application Workbench, but all the operations will have to be done manually and the applications you create will not be visible within the EPISODES Platform. To be able to use the complete functionality of creating and using your applications from the EPISODES Platform, you have to connect the account you just created to the EPISODES Platform. The connection is realized by providing the Platform with a user token generated for your account. In this way, we do not store any sensitive data (username and password) of your Application Workbench account, yet, we are able to connect to the Application Workbench on your behalf.

To generate a token, go to the Settings page, which can be accessed from your profile menu (top right corner) as displayed in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Accessing the Settings page in Application Workbench

Once on the Settings page, navigate to the Applications tab, type the Token Name of your choice (e.g. EPISODES Platform, to know that the token was generated for the Platform use) and click the Generate Token button (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Applications tab of the Settings page with Generate Token button marked

This action will have two results on the screen - first, a success message (green) and a message with the token content (blue) will appear (see Figure 6). The content of the token has to be copied and pasted in the form in EPISODES Platform (see next paragraph). Note, that, after closing this screen, you will no longer be able to copy the token, as there are no options to display it later. In case you did it accidentally, and the token was not copied to the EPISODES Platform, you will have to delete the token and generate it again. A second result will be the freshly generated token appear under the Manage Access Tokens area, with the current date displayed.

Figure 6. Generated token displayed (marked)

You can revoke the generated token at any time (with the Delete button displayed in Figure 6), however, bear in mind that, in such case, the connection between your Application Workbench account and EPISODES Platform account will be lost. Generating a new token and configuring it instead of the revoked one will restore this connection.

After safely copying the token, enter the EPISODES Platform, log in, if you were not logged in already, go to the Profile and affiliations page and use the Connect to Application Workbench button (Figure 7).

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Figure 7. Profile and affiliations page with Connect to Application Workbench button marked

This will display a form as in Figure 8, where you will be able to paste the previously copied token. After saving it (with Save token button visible on Figure 8), you should see information as on Figure 9 appearing instead of the form.

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Figure 8. Form for inserting or generating Application Workbench token within Profile and Affiliations page

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Figure 9. Information that the Application Workbench account is connected

There is also an alternative way to create a token - if you set up the password for the Application Workbench account, instead of pasting the token in the form from Figure 8, you can provide can click the Advanced button, provide your Application Workbench username and password and use the Generate token button (Figure 10). The credentials are not stored by the Platform, they are used only for the process of generating the token.

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Figure 10. Form for generating Application Workbench available after clicking 'Advanced' button

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SettingPassword SettingPassword

Setting password for the Application Workbench account

Setting a password to your Application Workbench account is not obligatory, as you always can login with your EPISODES Platform credentials. It is, however, required when modifying your applications directly from your computer using GIT commands or GUI, which is recommended for making more advanced modifications to your application files.

To set a password, go to the Settings page within the Application Workbench, which can be accessed from your profile menu (top right corner) as displayed in Figure 4. Once on the Settings page, navigate to the Account tab, choose the Forgot password? option (see Figure 1011), and follow further instructions. Remember to provide the same e-mail address you used for the account registration (previous section).

Figure 1011. Account tab of the Settings page with password setting option marked.

Additional notes

When accessing your application repositories by URL, you may encounter an access error like the one displayed in Figure 1112. This might be caused by your session in the Application Workbench being expired. In such case, you have to log in to the Application Workbench again (using the Login button as displayed in Figure 1). If the problem persists after logging in to Application Workbench, please check the URL pasted to the address bar of your browser, as it might point to a non-existing application.

Figure 1112. Access error caused by expired session in Application Workbench

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