Alert Task – Basic Auth

We have seen how an Alert task can be set up in Kore.ai virtual assistant platform here. In this section, we will see how basic authorization for the alert tasks can be set up.

Setting Up

The following illustration is an example of the Basic Auth fields that you must define to enable basic authorization for your task.

To define basic authorization, select Basic Auth in the Authorization Type field. Then specify a Name for the authorization to be displayed in the Bot builder user interface.

Tenancy

If required, in the Subdomain section, select Yes if the base URL for a web application or user interface uses a tenant name in the URL. For example, kore is the tenant organization for a web service using tenants as www.kore.someCompany.com.
In the following example configuration, the tenancy URL contains the {tenant} organization placeholder.

Form Fields

If the default username and password fields do not meet your needs, you can add new fields displayed to the end-user by adding authorization form fields. To add fields on the authorization form, click + Add Form Field.

The following illustration is an example of a definition to add a password field to the authorization dialog.

The following table describes the fields used to define an authorization IDP form field.

Authorization Fields

By default, authorization fields are configured as part of the header of the task request message. If your task request requires additional authorization fields or the expected authorization is not part of the header, for example, social security number or PIN, click+ Add Authorization Field and then define the fields as shown in the following illustration.

1. In the Field Type field, you can select one of the following depending on where in the task request message and the type of authorization fields that are required.
   Header – The bot expects the authorization fields as part of the header of the request.Payload – The bot expects the authorization fields as part of the content of the body of the request.
   Query String – The bot expects the authorization fields as a query in the body of the request.
   Path Param – The bot expects the authorization fields as part of the URL path for the request.
2. In the Field Key field, enter the name of the field for the selected Field Type.
3. In the Field Value field, enter the value for the Field Key specified.
4. Click Done. The new authorization field is added in the Authorization Fields section.
5. To add additional authorization fields, click Add in the Authorization Fields section.
6. In the Authorization Check URL field, optionally define a URL that is used to test the authentication settings from Bot Builder before you deploy the task with the authorization mechanism. You can use dynamic fields, path parameter fields, query fields, and so forth, to define the test URL, for example, https://kore.someCompany.com/sap/opu/odata/sap/{{authfield1}}/?$format=json
7. In the Access Using a Connector section, select Yes to enable access for Kore.ai Bots using the Kore.ai Connector agent. If your domain does not have any active Kore.ai Connectors defined, a warning message is displayed to contact the Bots Admin Console system, administrator. For more information, refer to Using the Kore.ai Connector in the Bots Admin Console documentation.
8. Click Save to save the authorization settings and close the New Authorization Mechanism dialog.

Testing

After you save the authentication, if you have defined an Authorization Check URL for your new authorization type, you can test your authorization definition on the Authorization tab.

1. Click Test Authorization before continuing to develop the remaining steps of your task.
2. After you click Test Authorization, the Test Authorization window is displayed and populated with the URL you specified in the Authorization Check URL section, as shown in the following illustration.

To configure the Test Authorization – Basic Auth, follow the below steps:

1. In the Auth Check URL field, verify or enter the URL to test the authentication configuration.
2. If your bot uses subdomains, the Tenancy field is displayed and you must specify the tenant.
3. Enter your User Name and Password for the web service.
4. Select the content type expected for the URL in the Content-Type field.
5. For testing the URL, the Method field is read-only and set to GET.
6. Click Test to begin the authorization test.

When the validation of authentication is complete, the Test Authorization window is closed and the results of the validation, either success or failure, is displayed to the immediate right of the Test Authorization button as shown in the following illustration.

If the authorization fails, the Auth Test Failed message is displayed along with the Headers and Response tabs as shown in the following illustration.

How it all Works 

When basic authorization is used for a task, the Kore.ai application automatically prompts the user for login credentials to access the web application or web service as shown in the following illustration.

After the end-user is authorized, the settings are saved using the following naming syntax:

{{ First Name }} {{ Last Name }} {{ Bot Name }} {{ Account # }} {{ Sequence # }}

For example, John Smith’s Twitter Account #1.
The Kore.ai application can access the web application or web service for all future task requests using this account. In addition, the end-user can reuse the account for other tasks for the same Bot.