Difference between revisions of "AIR Selector 1.1-Win"

Revision as of 22:29, 24 February 2009

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Version 1.1

• This page describes the Adobe AIR based client+server solution being developed for Higgins 1.1 (see Solutions 1.1)
• This solution is not part of Higgins 1.0.

Introduction

This solution provides an Adobe AIR based Identity Selector that runs on the local machine. It requires a hosted Higgins server for I-Card management as well as Higgins Selector Switch and Higgins Browser Extension.

Quick overview:

1. When user submits an Information Card form on a website, the Higgins Browser Extension intercepts the action, collects the policy string, and sends the string to Higgins Selector Switch.
2. The Higgins Selector Switch invokes the AIR Selector using the Connector for Adobe AIR Selector
3. The AIR Selector communicates with the server, and shows I-Card Selector UI
4. The User selects an I-Card and clicks "Send this card"
5. The AIR Selector gets security token for the selected I-Card from the server and sends token to Higgins Selector Switch
6. The Higgins Browser Extension retrieves a token from Higgins Selector Switch
7. The Higgins Browser Extension submits the token to the "relying party" site

End-User Perspective

Functionality

The AIR Client and Server solution relies on a hosted Higgins server. The client portion includes the AIR Selector, the Higgins Selector Switch and the Higgins Browser Extension. A demo server (including a hosted I-Card Manager) is installed at https://higgins.eclipse.org

The AIR Client and Server solution has the following capabilities:

1. Allows user to setup an account on the Higgins server
2. Allows user to edit the hosted account configuration and other preferences
3. Retrieves cards from remote storage based on RP Policy
4. Retrieves token from the server for the selected card
5. Sends token to RP using Higgins Selector Selector
6. Imports .crd file to user's account on server
7. Opens I-Card Manager in a browser to review and update cards

The AIR Selector can also be invoked by a local desktop application instead of a website. See the Map Demo (Adobe Flash Player 9 required).

AIR Selector Functionality

The AIR Selector component requires Adobe AIR Runtime version 1.0 or greater. During installation process, the installer will look for existence of Adobe AIR Runtime on the system. If the runtime is not present, the installer will download and install the runtime from adobe.com.

When user completes the installation of Higgins Selector Selector, installer invokes the AIR Selector and opens account provisioning wizard. User can either create a new Higgins server account or setup the existing account to use in AIR Selector.

Account provisioning wizard

AIR Selector is invoked from web browser using Higgins Selector Selector with the RP Policy. AIR Selector contacts I-Card Service using web service calls and retrieves cards matching the RP Policy.

Card Selector

The user can preview the claim values by clicking on a card.

Card Selector with claim values

The user requests the token for the selected card via the Higgins server and sends the token to the RP via the Higgins Selector Selector

Setup

There are two possible installation options are available. One is to install the full stack of Higgins Selector Selector and the other is by installing just the AIR Selector and a browser plugin. The second option is currently available only for Firefox. [Note: A commercially-packaged version is also available at Azigo.com].

Higgins Selector Selector installation

1. Run installer.exe from app/org.eclipse.higgins.tcpserver/src/SSSupport/bin/setup/ when the build for Higgins Selector Selector is completed.
2. Follow the instructions of the installer and completes the installation. Browser plugins, Selector Switcher, Selector Switch core and Connectors for different selectors will be installed by the installer.

AIR Selector and Firefox extension

Note: This lightweight installation provides a direct connection from Firefox browser to the AIR Selector. This bypasses the full stack of Higgins Selector Selector components. This option is recommended only for testing purpose or only for the platforms that don't have Higgins Selector Selector yet (e.g. MacOS and Linux)

1. Download and install Adobe AIR Runtime from http://get.adobe.com/air/
2. Download and install AIR Selector from https://dev.eclipse.org/svnroot/technology/org.eclipse.higgins/trunk/app/org.eclipse.higgins.air/bin/CardSelector.air
3. Install Higgins Browser Extension for Firefox by following Higgins Browser Extension for Firefox Installation steps

Deployer Perspective

Deploying

This is a desktop application and it is installed by running the insller.exe binary from app/org.eclipse.higgins.tcpserver/src/SSSupport/bin/setup/ when the build is completed.

1. Build Higgins Selector Switch components
2. Go to app/org.eclipse.higgins.tcpserver/src/SSSupport/bin/setup/ and run installer.exe file
3. Since installer bundles AIR Selector, it requires "Adobe AIR runtime"
   1. if AIR runtime is not installed, installer will install it.
   2. If installation of "Adobe AIR runtime" is not functional, installation will be aborted
   3. If "Adobe AIR runtime" is installed properly, installation will continue.
4. Install Higgins Selector Switch to a selected folder.
5. Once the installation is completed it is ready for use.

Developer Perspective

Architecture

Higgins Server (component set)

I-Card Selector Service (component set)

I-Card Registry (component set)

Local STS (component set)

Utility (component set)

Building

This section describes the steps a developer would use to build deployable artifacts. The overall solution is comprised of the following sub-systems:

1. Selector-Selector component
2. Selector installer component
3. AIR selector connector component
4. CardSpace selector connector component

This guide assumes you have the following software:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx)
• boost bjam.exe (see http://www.crystalclearsoftware.com/cgi-bin/boost_wiki/wiki.pl?InstallingBoost)

1. Download selector selector source files (see: https://dev.eclipse.org/svnroot/technology/org.eclipse.higgins/trunk/app/org.eclipse.higgins.tcpserver/src)

2. Go to ./build directory and run build.bat file. This will build all parts of the Higgins Selector Selector Component