CODEWITHSUNDEEP
oauthtwitteroauth-2.0xauth
xonegirlz
xonegirlz

Reputation: 8977

What is the purpose of having access token for server side?

I see that when connecting services to twitter/facebook, sometimes apps are storing the user access token in the server. What is the most common purpose of doing this? I've read several twitter/fb documents and just don't seem to get it. Twitter also has an xAuth which can basically provide you with the user 'access_token', so what is the purpose of doing this?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 716

Answers (2)

rgullhaug
rgullhaug

Reputation: 1115

Instead of the service storing your facebook/twitter username/password on the server (which the service shouldn't know) it stores the access_token. The access_token can be used to make requests to the API. This is the purpouse of Oauth. It will enable you to write services which uses an external api like facebook without the user ever telling you theire username/password

Upvotes: 1

FlavorScape
FlavorScape

Reputation: 14299

You don't want 3RD parties pretending to be users. You want signed transactions so that authenticity is validated.

What if some application just started posting shit on your wall? This has a pretty obvious purpose.

Your app has to provide the token when making API requests that have been approved by the user. That's what OAuth is made for.

Upvotes: 2

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