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[inc-librsvcs] Invoking Shibboleth from Javascript

From: Rich Wenger <>
To: "" <>
Subject: [inc-librsvcs] Invoking Shibboleth from Javascript
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 15:21:05 -0400
Accept-language: en-US
Acceptlanguage: en-US

Hi:

I’m trying to retrofit Shibboleth authentication into an existing web application that was constructed according to a very different model. It is a complex mix of php and _javascript_. I had hoped that I could simply (!) locate one of the required _javascript_ files in the Shib-protected directory and refer to it at run time with JQery’s $.getScript function. There is some sample code on the web here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/912711/jquery-to-load-_javascript_-file-dynamically and I set this code up as a test case. My expectation was that the load of the code from the protected directory would trigger the Shibboleth authentication cycle, but that does not seem to be the case.

I have this code in https://delisle.mit.edu/geoweb/testload.html (unprotected directory):

<html>

<head>

<title>Example of getScript</title>

$(function()

{

$('#loadButton').click(function(){

$.getScript('https://delisle.mit.edu/secure/new.js',function(){

newFun('"Checking new script"');//This is the external function present in new.js

});

</script>

</head>

<body>

</body>

</html>

And this code in /secure/new.js: (Shib-protected)
var testVar = 'New JS loaded!';

alert(testVar);

function newFun(dynParam)

{

alert('You just passed '+dynParam+ ' as parameter.');

}

When I load https://delisle.mit.edu/geoweb/testload.html and click the Load button, I see responses of this kind in the web console:

[14:49:28.381] GET https://delisle.mit.edu/secure/new.js [HTTP/1.1 302 Found 31ms]

but Shibboleth does not intercept the load, and the loaded file does not execute. If I move new.js to some other directory and point to it, it works fine.

Should this work, or does Shibboleth not support this for some reason? Does anybody have a suggestion for a better way to accomplish a Shibboleth authentication cycle from within _javascript_?

Thanks,

Rich Wenger
E-Resource Systems Manager, MIT Libraries

617-253-0035

[inc-librsvcs] Invoking Shibboleth from Javascript, Rich Wenger, 05/31/2011

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[inc-librsvcs] Invoking Shibboleth from Javascript