This chapter describes ways to extend Ensemble, including customizing the user experience and developing web applications using Ensemble extensions, and is divided into the following sections:
What the user sees when she logs in and out of Ensemble resources is controlled by customizing login resources. Based on the experience definition associated with the user, different pages can be delivered to the user at different times in the login or logout process. The following sections describe login resources and how to use them to communicate with Ensemble.
For details on using experience definitions to determine which login resource is used with a given user, see Experience Definitions.
About Login Resources
A login resource hosts pages associated with a user's experience authenticating with Ensemble. The following table describes the types of pages that can be delivered by a login resource:
Table 12-1 Login Resource Pages
Page
Definition
Pre-login page
This page is displayed to the user prior to prompting the user for authentication the user.
Login page
This page is only applicable when form authentication is being used, and provides the form for login.
Post-login page
This page is displayed to the user after successful authentication and before the resource is accessed.
Error page
This page is displayed if there is an error in the login process.
Post-logout page
This page is displayed after the user logs out of the resource.
A web page on the login resource can be specified for any or all of these settings using experience definitions. For details on configuring experience definitions, see Login Resources and Interstitial Pages.
Communicating With Ensemble
Login resource pages communicate with Ensemble by using HTTP headers. The following table lists the available headers and describes how and when they are used in the login or logout process.
Table 12-2 Login Resource Headers
Page
Header
Values
Pre-login
runner_pre_interstitial_complete
true - indicates that the Pre-login page has completed successfully. The page is not displayed and Ensemble proceeds to the login page.
false - Ensemble does nothing when the header is set to false or if the header is not present. The pre-login page is displayed.
Login
runner_username
The username Ensemble uses to authenticate the user.
Login
runner_password
The password Ensemble uses to authenticate the user.
Login
runner_authentication_provider
The provider for authentication. For AquaLogic Ensemble 1.0 the only valid value is portal. If the header is not present, the provider defaults to portal.
Login
runner_portal_authentication_source
The authentication source to authenticate the user against. This is the same as the authentication source the user would use to log in to the portal.
Post-login
runner_post_interstitial_complete
true - indicates that the Post-login page has completed successfully. The page is not displayed and Ensemble proceeds to the login page.
false - Ensemble does nothing when the header is set to false or if the header is not present. The post-login page is displayed.
Note:
Error and Logout pages are considered terminal pages and do not communicate with Ensemble using headers. Ensemble does provide information to these pages using Ensemble Adaptive tags. For details, see Ensemble Adaptive Tags.
Ensemble Adaptive Tags
Ensemble Adaptive Tags allow you to insert data and logic into your proxied web application. Ensemble transforms tags included in proxied web applications before the page is delivered to the user.
For details on Ensemble Adaptive Tags, see the topic on Ensemble Adaptive Tags in the AquaLogic developer documentation.
