Authorization error with Google apps script

Question

I’m not experienced with Google Apps script. I need to communicate with an external API but keep getting {"error":"Authentication failed"} response.

I appreciate if someone could give me a hint what should I change in my code. I think that I have written the Authorization part wrong (in API documentation is written: Authorization: WebpageToken realm="api", apikey="testkey123")

Below is the API documentation which I'm trying to get to work.

“API-documentation: Some interface functions: commitments, employees, corporates, customers/:id

API communication is done by RESTful-type HTTPS requests which are sent to: https://the.webpage.com/{CUSTOMER_ID}/api/{ENDPOINT} Where {CUSTOMER_ID} is personal ID and {ENDPOINT} is interface function. The response format is JSON.

Example request (from documentation):

GET /1200/api/customers/1 HTTP/1.1
Host: the.webpage.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: WebpageToken realm="api", apikey="testkey123"

”

I have tried to find correct way of writing the authorization by searching from stackoverflow and documentation but with bad luck.

MY CODE in Google Apps Script:

function getCorporates(){
  var ENDPOINT = "corporates";
  var apiKey = ”testkey123”; //example
  var CUSTOMER_ID = 1234; //example

  var options = {
    "method":"GET",
    "muteHttpExceptions": true,
    "Authorization":{
      "WebpageToken":{
        "realm":"api",
        "apikey" :apiKey     
         }
    }
  };
  var url = "https://the.webpage.com/" + CUSTOMER_ID + "/api/" + ENDPOINT;
  var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, options); // get api endpoint
  var json = response.getContentText(); // get the response content as text
  Logger.log(json); //log data to logger to check
}

This code should return a JSON object. Currently I'm receiving {"error":"Authentication failed"} response.

Please note that I had to "hide" the company name so in this case it's changed to the.webpage.com which is not the real API address which I try to call.

Thanks for help!

Would you mind sharing the actual/full link to the API documentation? Also, have you tried testing the API outside of apps script first to see if you're able to achieve what's required? Perhaps try it on Postman? — Sourabh Choraria
Thanks! I translated original documentation to English. Where I refer “Website” eg "WebsiteToken" means that the original service name is modified for security reasons but basically is the service provider’s name. It contains sensitive health information of clients so I try to be careful. I tried Postman but cant figure out how “Authorization: WebsiteToken realm="api", apikey="testKey123"" should be implemented. Here is the link for documentation: onedrive.live.com/… — Mikko Korhonen
Typically, if it's to do with authorisation, it mostly has to do with the API and it's credentials alone. Given that the setup did not work on Postman either, I'd recommend reaching out to the service provider directly once too so they may properly guide you on how to first make a successful API request & once that's done, it would be a piece of cake to implement it on Google Apps Script. — Sourabh Choraria
Did you take a look at this guide onworking with 3rd party APIs? — AMolina

rsomji rsomji · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-08T20:54:15

You need to add the Authorization as a header, which is done like so:

var headers = {
  "Authorization" : "Webpage realm='api', apikey='testkey123'"
};

var params = {
  "method": "GET",
  "muteHttpExceptions": true,
  "headers": headers
};

var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, params);

In other words the HTTP headers are their own object within the params object (from my example, options from your example).

See the documentation [0] under 'Advanced Parameters'

[0] https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/url-fetch/url-fetch-app#fetch(String,Object)

Authorization error with Google apps script

1 Answers