Point, Click, Understand OAuth

Posted by Eric Bidelman, Google Data APIs Team

In June, we announced that all of the Google Data APIs adopted support for OAuth, an open protocol that aims to standardize the way desktop and web applications access a user's private data. As programmers, we're taught to reuse code wherever possible. OAuth helps developers reduce the amount of duplicate code they write and make it easier to create tools that work with multiple services from a variety of different providers.

I created the OAuth Playground as a tool to help developers make sense of their OAuth woes. Use the Playground to help debug problems, check your own implementation, and experiment with the Google Data APIs. I've also written an article on Using OAuth with the Google Data APIs that should help you get started.



In addition to the Playground, we're also happy to announce that HMAC-SHA1 is now supported, and that there's a new version of the Java client library available which includes OAuth helpers. If you're a Java developer eager to try OAuth, get started by downloading the latest version of the library.