Creating Application Workbench account

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 with your chosen username (which might be different from the EPISODES Platform username). 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 be able to 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 Workbech 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).

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

This will present you with the Application Workbench account login page (Figure 2). As this is your first login, the credentials here are not yet configured, therefore, leave the form fields empty and use the Log in with EPISODES Platform button. Later, when you have your account configured, you can use the Username and Password fields to log in to the system as an alternative to the EPISODES Platform SSO when accessing the Application Workbench.

Figure 2. Application Workbench account login page

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 Platfrom is already active. After successful login, you will be able to create the Application Workbench account (Figure 3). Here, you will have to type a username that you wish to have for the Application Workbench account, and an email address that will be associated with it. It is recommended to provide the same email address as the one used for the EPISODES Platform login. Note, that after this registration this screen will not be presented to you anymore, as the account will be already created.

Figure 3. Application Workbench account registration page

After clicking Complete Account, you will be redirected again to the Login page (Figure 2). Clicking the Log in with EPISODES Platform button again will now you into your newly created account. With subsequent logins, apart from the Log in with EPISODES Platform button you will be also able to use the username created in the previous step for the Application Workbench login, but to do that you will first have to create a password for the account (this action is not required).

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.

Figure 4. Accessing the Settings page in Application Workbench

Once on the Settings page, navigate to the Account tab, choose the Forgot password? option (see Figure 5), and follow further instructions. Remember to provide the same e-mail address you used for the account registration (previous section).

Figure 5. Account tab of the Settings page with password setting option marked.

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 TODO: link do Creating a new application manually, however, to use the applications within the EPISODES Platform or to use the Platform's wizard that helps with creating a new application TODO: link do Creating a new application with dedicated wizard, 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) from your Application Workbench account. Yet, we are able to connect to the Application Workbench on your behalf.

Note, that, unlike in the previous sections, this step starts with entering the EPISODES Platform. To connect the account, go to the Profile and affiliations page and use the Connect to Application Workbench button (Figure 6).

TODO: nowe screen-shoty z profilu w Platformie (po ISL-4200)

Figure 6. Profile and affiliations page with Connect to Application Workbench button

This will display a form enabling for either pasting a generated user token or for automatic generation of the token (Figure 7). To manually create a user token, follow the instructions in the Manual generation of user token section. This option is especially recommended if you already have some experience with GIT-based systems or if you do not want to set up the Application Workbench password, or do not want to provide your credentials. For automatic generation of the token, just providing your username and password for the Application Workbench account is required (the credentials are not stored by the Platform, they are used only for the process of generating the token for you). Note, that, to use this option, you will have to first set up the password for the Application Workbench account.

TODO: nowe screen-shoty z profilu w Platformie (po ISL-4200)

Figure 7. Profile and affiliations page with token input and genaration options

Manual generation of user token

Manual management of your token(s) will become more important as you gain more experience with the Application Workbench, and, especially with modifying your applications from your own computer (see Editing the application code) - you will be also able to use it for a safe connection to the Application Workbench. However, we recommend to use a different token (you can generate any number of them) for other purposes than connection with the EPISODES Platform.

To manually generate a token, access again to the Application Workbench and to the Settings page, which can be accessed from your profile menu (top right corner) as displayed in Figure 8.

Figure 8. 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 9).

Figure 9. 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 10). The content of the token has to be copied and pasted in the form in EPISODES Platform (Figure 7). 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 10. Generated token displayed (marked)

You can revoke the generated token at any time (with the Delete button displayed in Figure 10), 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.

Additional notes

When accessing your application repositories by URL, you may encounter an access error like the one displayed in Figure 11. 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 11. Access error caused by expired session in Application Workbench