Distributing Sharepoint 2013 Apps : Publishing Apps in the SharePoint Store (part 1) - Creating a Client ID and Secret

When you have completed developing your app and are ready to publish the next thing you need to do is to sign up and get access to the Seller Dashboard. The Seller Dashboard is the back-end entry point for developers and ISVs to access the SharePoint Store. It’s where you can submit, publish, and manage your apps.

To apply for access you simply create an account with Microsoft on the website at: http://sellerdashboard.microsoft.com. You must sign in with a Microsoft account and answer some questions about yourself or the company you are registering. After you’re registered you receive access to the Seller Dashboard. However, this access doesn’t let you start publishing applications immediately. Microsoft conducts a verification process to ensure you are who you say you are and that you have completed the information sufficiently. You will be notified when this process is complete via e-mail.

After you successfully log in to the Store, you will see the Seller Dashboard, as shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1

You are now ready to start submitting apps. The two high-level steps in this process are:

Creating a Client ID and Secret

A client ID and client secret form a critical component of how the OAuth authentication and authorization flows work between apps and SharePoint. They are used to secure and verify calls as well as identify apps when calls are made.

For Provider-hosted apps you are required to apply for a client ID and secret prior to submitting the app. This is because you need to both supply them as part of the app package and, more importantly, you need to configure them in your app’s back-end code. The back-end code of your application must be up and running prior to submission so that Microsoft can successfully test the application and verify it.

When you’re creating private apps, you create a client ID and secret through the appregnew.aspx page . For apps you want to distribute through the SharePoint Store, you need to obtain the client ID and secret from the Seller Dashboard. This is a straightforward process (as shown in the following Try It Out) and requires you to supply a friendly name, the domain name on which the app code back end will be hosted, and the period for which the ID/secret should be valid for.

1. Log in to the Seller Dashboard on the http://sellerdashboard.microsoft.com website.

2. Click the Client IDs link.

3. Click the Add a new oauth client id link as shown in Figure 2.

FIGURE 2

4. Enter a friendly name for the client ID; for example, MyAppKeys.

5. In the App Domain field enter the domain name of where your Provider-hosted application code resides; for example, myapp.contoso.com.

6. In the App Redirect URL field enter the fully qualified domain name and path to the redirect URL page in your app code. This field accepts authorization codes from SharePoint . Note that it must be HTTPS; for example, https://myapp.contoso.com/redirecturi.aspx.

7. Pick the duration you want the client ID and secret to be valid for. The default is one year.

8. After it’s complete, the form should look like the one shown in Figure 3.

FIGURE 3

9. Click the Generate Client ID button. A confirmation screen with your client ID and secret appears, as shown in Figure 4.

FIGURE 4

10. Make a copy of this page and store these details somewhere safe. This is very important! No way exists to retrieve them again after you have dismissed this screen.

11. After you have made a safe and secure copy of the details shown, click Done.

12. You can now configure your Provider-hosted app with the client ID and secret combination you generated.