- - Set its username and password
-
-Stage B (on the application's web-server):
-
-Authentication onto the library can be achieved by a single HTTP GET
-to the relevant Service Proxy, passing in the credentials and thereby
-initiating an HTTP session. This can most simply be done just by
-setting service_proxy_auth to a URL such as
- http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=login&username=MIKE&password=SWORDFISH
-
-However, doing so reveals the the credentials to public view -- to
-anyone who does View Source on the MKWS application. This may be
-acceptable for some libraries, but is intolerable for those which
-provide authenticated access to subscription resources. For such
-circumstances, a more elaborate approach is necessary. The idea is to
-make a local URL that is used for authentication onto the Service
-Proxy, hiding the credentials, and to use local mechanisms to limit
-access to that local authentication URL. Here is one way to do it when
-Apache2 is the application's web-server:
+ - Depending on what authentication method it be used, set the
+ end-user account's username and password, or IP-address
+ range, or referring URL, or hostname.
+
+Stage B: tell the application to use the library
+
+In the HTML of the application, tell MKWS to authenticate on to the
+Service Proxy. When IP-based, referer-based or hostname-based
+authentication is used, this is very simple:
+
+ <script type="text/javascript">
+ var mkws_config = { service_proxy_auth:
+ "http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=check,login" };
+ </script>
+
+And ensure that access to the MWKS application is from the correct
+IP-range, referer or hostname.
+
+Stage C (optional): embed credentials for access to the library
+
+When credential-based authentication is in use (username and
+password), it's necessary to pass these credentials into the Service
+Proxy when establishing the session. This can most simply be done just
+by setting the service_proxy_auth configuration item to a URL such as
+ http://mkws.indexdata.com/service-proxy/?command=auth&action=check,login&username=MIKE&password=SWORDFISH
+
+Stage D (optional): conceal credentials from HTML source
+
+Using a Service-Proxy authentication URL such as the one above reveals
+the the credentials to public view -- to anyone who does View Source
+on the MKWS application. This may be acceptable for some libraries,
+but is intolerable for those which provide authenticated access to
+subscription resources.
+
+In these circumstances, a more elaborate approach is necessary. The
+idea is to make a local URL that is used for authentication onto the
+Service Proxy, hiding the credentials, and to use local mechanisms to
+limit access to that local authentication URL. Here is one way to do
+it when Apache2 is the application's web-server, which we will call
+example.com: