Developer Console

Adobe Pass Authorization Component

 IV: Add Components for More Functionality

Adobe Primetime (formerly Adobe Pass) provides an authentication mechanism that requires users to log in prior to viewing media. Users sign in to their ISP or content provider, and those credentials then authenticate them with the app. You can learn more at Adobe Primetime here.

The User Experience with Adobe Pass

This example shows a configuration of Adobe Pass/Primetime with a sample app.

When users click the Watch Now button on the Content Details screen, they're greeted by an Adobe Primetime Login prompt:

Adobe Primetime login prompt

Users open a browser on their computer and go to the indicated URL (in this example, www.example.com/amazon/firetv) to enter the registration code. The user also signs in to their cable provider.

Authenticating with Adobe Pass requires users to sign in to their cable provider.

After the user enters the registration code and cable provider credentials, the user is logged in and sees a success screen similar to this one. (You configure these URLs and screens through your Adobe Primetime account.)

Login success.

Now the user turns back to the Fire TV and clicks the Submit button to log in. The app now lets the user watch media.

If the login is unsuccessful, the user sees an error message on the screen indicating what went wrong:

Possible error messages screen from an unsuccessful Adobe Primetime login attempt.

Configuring the Adobe Pass Auth Component

To configure the Adobe Pass Component, follow these five steps:

Step 1. Configure the Adobe Pass Auth Component in Your App

The Adobe Pass Auth Component provides three separate groups of files you can customize that configure the Adobe Pass information and the Fire TV user interface that users see.

To configure the Adobe Pass Authorization Component:

  1. Load the Adobe Pass Authorization component into your app. See Add or Remove a Component for details about how to load a component into your app.

    Be sure to remove any other authentication components that are loaded in your app (such as FacebookAuthComponent or LoginWithAmazonComponent). See Add or Remove a Component for details.

  2. Go to AdobePassAuthComponent > res > values and open the custom.xml file.
  3. Copy the following values and paste them into your app's custom.xml file:

    <!--Adobe pass clientless API Requestor ID -->
    <string name="adobe_pass_requestor_id">YOUR REQUESTOR ID</string>
    <!-- Encrypted Adobe pass public key for your application, encrypt it using
    KeyEncrypterStandaloneUtility -->
    <string name="encrypted_adobe_pass_public_key">YOUR ENCRYPTED PUBLIC KEY</string>
    <!-- Encrypted Adobe pass secret key for your application, encrypt it using
    KeyEncrypterStandaloneUtility -->
    <string name="encrypted_adobe_pass_private_key">YOUR ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY</string>
    <!--Adobe pass clientless API registration URL for second screen login -->
    <string name="adobe_pass_registration_url">YOUR REGISTRATION URL</string>
    <!--Adobe pass clientless API time to live value for the registration token -->
    <string name="adobe_pass_registration_code_ttl">YOUR TIME TO LIVE VALUE</string>
    <!-- URL used by user to authenticate -->
    <string name="adobepass_login_instruction_line_2">Visit YOUR_AUTHENTICATION_URL</string>
    <!-- PseudoRandom strings, used to generate random key for encrypting/decrypting resources.
    These keys should always remain in sync with the keys used by encrypting utility -->
    <string name="random_key_1">random_key_1</string>
    <string name="random_key_2">random_key_2</string>
    <string name="random_key_3">random_key_3</string>
    <string name="random_key_4">random_key_4</string>
    
  4. Customize the values for each property as explained in the following table:

    Value Description
    adobe_pass_requestor_id Your Adobe Primetime requestor ID. This value is provided by Adobe.
    encrypted_adobe_pass_public_key Your encrypted Adobe Primetime public key (provided by Adobe). Although this key is provided to you by Adobe, you must encrypt it. See Encrypt Your Adobe Primetime Keys for details on generating this key.
    encrypted_adobe_pass_private_key Your encrypted Adobe Primetime private key. Although this key is provided to you by Adobe, you must encrypt it. See Encrypt Your Adobe Primetime Keys for details on generating this key.
    adobe_pass_registration_url The registration URL. This value is provided by Adobe.
    adobe_pass_registration_code_ttl How long until the registration code expires.
    adobepass_login_instruction_line_2 Information about where users go to log in.
    random_key_1 A random string used in encrypting the public and private keys. Type any alphanumeric string for the value.
    random_key_2 A random string used in encrypting the public and private keys. Type any alphanumeric string for the value.
    random_key_3 A random string used in encrypting the public and private keys. Type any alphanumeric string for the value.
    random_key_4 A random string used in encrypting the public and private keys. Type any alphanumeric string for the value.

Step 2. Encrypt Your Adobe Primetime Keys

When you set up an Adobe Primetime account, you're provided with a public and private key. To keep these values secure, the Adobe Pass Component in Fire App Builder encrypts the keys with a security algorithm. The algorithm is implemented through the ResourceObfuscator and ResourceObfuscationStandaloneUtility classes in your app's Utils folder.

To encrypt your Adobe Primetime public and private key:

  1. In the Android View, expand the Utils > java > com > amazon > utils > security folder and open the ResourceObfuscationStandaloneUtility class.
  2. In the getRandomStringsForKey() method, enter the values you used for random_key_1, random_key_4, and random_key_3 (in the component's custom.xml file) respectively.

    For example, suppose you used the following random strings in your custom.xml file:

    <string name="random_key_1">calypso</string>
    <string name="random_key_2">dadadadadappppp</string>
    <string name="random_key_3">more_random_stuff</string>
    <string name="random_key_4">something_random</string>
    

    You would customize the strings in the ResourceObfuscationStandaloneUtility class as follows:

    private static String[] getRandomStringsForKey() {
    
        return new String[]{
                "calypso",
                "something_random",
                "more_random_stuff"
        };
    }
    

    In this example, the values are as follows:

    • calypso is the value used for random_key_1.
    • something_random is the value used for random_key_4.
    • more_random_stuff is the value used for random_key_3.
  3. In the getRandomStringsForIv() method, enter the values you used for random_key_2 and random_key_3 respectively:

        private static String[] getRandomStringsForIv() {
    
            return new String[]{
                    "dadadadadappppp",
                    "more_random_stuff"
            };
        }
    }
    

    In this example, the values are as follows:

    • dadadadadappppp is the value used for random_key_2.
    • more_random_stuff is the value used for random_key_3. (Same as before.)
  4. In the getPlainTextToEncrypt() method, insert your Adobe Pass public key in place of Encrypt_this_text:

     private static String getPlainTextToEncrypt() {
            return "Encrypt_this_text";
        }
    
  5. Right-click the ResourceObfuscationStandaloneUtility.java file and select Run 'ResourceObfusc…main().

  6. Look for the encrypted result printed to the console. It will look something like this:

    Encrypted version of plain text 123456789 is gnobHJEIxnkBMobJk7mBaQ==
    
  7. Copy your encrypted key. Paste this key into the encrypted_adobe_pass_public_key value in your app's custom.xml file (as per the instructions in the previous section). For example:

    <string name="encrypted_adobe_pass_public_key">gnobHJEIxnkBMobJk7mBaQ==</string>
    <string name="encrypted_adobe_pass_private_key">YOUR ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY</string>
    
  8. Now insert your Adobe Pass private key into the getPlainTextToEncrypt() method, and run the script again (using the same random strings). Copy the encrypted key into the encrypted_adobe_pass_private_key string value in your app's custom.xml file. For example:

    <string name="encrypted_adobe_pass_public_key">gnobHJEIxnkBMobJk7mBaQ==</string>
    <string name="encrypted_adobe_pass_private_key">bhjKDUYhdlkNNbUEYyvbn==</string>
    

Encrypting Other Values

The encryption utility can be used for any keys you want to encrypt in your app, not just for Adobe Primetime keys. You can use the ResourceObfuscatorStandaloneUitility class to encrypt the keys and the ResourceObfuscator class to decrypt keys.

The Adobe Pass Component already leverages the ResourceObfuscator class to decrypt the keys. The random strings you entered (in the custom.xml file in the component) get passed into the ResourceObfuscator class, which does the encryption. The AdobepassRestClient.java class in the Adobe Pass Auth Component instantiates this ResourceObfuscator class and passes in your random strings:

  ResourceObfuscator obfuscator = new ResourceObfuscator();

        String plainKey = obfuscator.unobfuscate(key, getRandomStringsForKey(appContext),
                                                 getRandomStringsForIv(appContext));
        return plainKey;
    }

Note that this encryption technique is not hack proof. There are stronger methods of encryption. However, the algorithm does help prevent malicious users from easily finding and using your keys.

Step 3. Configure the Strings for the Adobe Primetime Login Prompt

You can configure the strings that appear in the Adobe Primetime Login prompt screen:

Adobe Primetime login prompt

You can also control the text in the error messages screen that appears if the login fails:

Adobe Pass error messages

To customize the text on these screens:

  1. Go to AdobepassAuthComponent > res > values and open the strings.xml file.
  2. Customize the string values for each of the elements.

    <string name="app_name">AdobepassAuthComponent</string>
    
       <string name="title_activity_adobe_authentication">Authentication</string>
       <string name="adobepass_login_instruction_line_1">Go to your computer or mobile device</string>
       <string name="adobepass_login_instruction_line_3">Enter the following case-sensitive code:</string>
       <string name="adobepass_login_instruction_line_4">Loading...</string>
       <string name="btn_submit">SUBMIT</string>
       <string name="btn_get_new_code">GET NEW CODE</string>
       <string name="adobe_pass_error_authentication_message">There was an error authenticating the account. Please try again later.</string>
       <string name="adobe_pass_error_registration_message">There was an error authenticating the account. Please try again later.</string>
       <string name="adobe_pass_no_authorization_message">Your subscription package does not include this video.
    

Step 4. Customize the Styles for the Adobe Pass Screens

You can customize the logo and colors of the Adobe Primetime login user interface in your app.

To customize the styles:

  1. Go to AdobepassAuthComponent > res > values and open the styles.xml file.
  2. Customize the string values for each of the elements. See the preceding screenshots to see how the element names and text affects the display.

        <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
        </style>
    
        <drawable name="company_logo">@drawable/logo</drawable>
        <drawable name="splash_background">@drawable/bg_generic_nopreview</drawable>
        <drawable name="action_button_focused">@drawable/btn_generic_focused</drawable>
        <color name="action_button_text_color">#E6FFFFFF</color>
        <color name="action_button_text_color_focused">#E6FFFFFF</color>
        <drawable name="action_button_normal">@drawable/btn_normal</drawable>
    

Step 5. Configure Which Screen to Prompt Users to Log in

You need to configure which screens should implement the authentication. For example, you might want to require authentication only for the PlaybackActivity on the Content Renderer screens, so that unauthenticated users can be enticed by the media in your app and be motivated to sign in.

To configure which screens require authentication:

  1. Open the Navigator.json file (located in app > assets).
  2. In the graph object, locate the activity you want to restrict (such as PlaybackActivity), and change verifyScreenAccess to true. For example:

    "com.amazon.android.uamp.ui.PlaybackActivity": {
      "verifyScreenAccess": true,
      "verifyNetworkConnection": true,
      "onAction": "CONTENT_RENDERER_SCREEN"
    }
    

Show the Content Provider Logo to Users

When a user logs in to a provider through Adobe Pass, you can show the provider logo on the screen of the app. You do this by supplying an MVPD URL that contains the MVPD (multichannel video programming distributor) along with the MVPD's logo.

Here's an example with Hallmark app, which has the Adobe Pass component integrated. In this first screen, the user is not logged in, so no provider logo appears.

No MVP logo

After the user logs in, the provider logo ("Quantum Vu") appears to the right of the app logo.

No MVP logo

To add the provider's logo for logged-in users:

In your app's custom.xml file, add a string called mvpd_url pointing to your MVPD data, like this:

<string name="mvpd_url">http://somedomain.com/where/my/mvpd/details/reside</string>

The MVPD URL must include data in the following JSON format:

{
   "mvpdWhitelist":[
      {
         "mvpd":"xyz123",
         "loggedInImage":"http://www.xyz123.mysite.com/content/myimage" type="png"
      },
      {
         "mvpd":"qrs456",
         "loggedInImage":"http://www.qrs456.mysite.com/content/myfile" type="png"
      }
   ]
}

Although your MVPD data will most likely contain more values, only the properties above are necessary for Fire App Builder to display the provider logo.

You can test the provider logo feature by logging in and out of your app using the Login / Logout button at the bottom of the app.

Mix Free Content with Login-Required Content

If your content requires login but you want to provide some free content too (that doesn't require login), you can do so by mapping certain "free" tags in your feed. See Mix Free Content with Login-Required Content.


Last updated: Apr 06, 2017