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API concepts

To understand this API's various URL resources and the data it exchanges, it helps to be familiar with the following concepts:

  • Flows. JSON files that, among other things, help determine the look and feel of the user experience. Regardless of whether you are using Hosted Login, the Authentication APIs, or the JavaScript SDK, user logins and registrations require the use of a flow.

  • Fields. Provide a link between onscreen form elements and their underlying user profile attributes. For example, onscreen a user might enter their first name in a field labeled First Name. In turn, the value entered in that field will be written to the givenName attribute in the user’s user profile.

  • Forms. Forms primarily serve as a container for fields. For example, the traditionalRegistrationForm form contains fields for all the information (name, email address, password, phone number, etc.) you want to collect from a user before creating their user account.

  • Email templates. Templates used for configuring transactional emails. Transactional emails are emails automatically sent by the Identity Cloud in response to specific events. For example, a transactional email is sent any time a user clicks a Forgot password link. You can customize existing transactional emails, but you can’t create new templates or delete existing templates. In addition to that, you can’t change the circumstances under which these emails are triggered. See Customize transactional emails for more information.

  • Hosted Login migration workflow. Endpoints that help ensure that a flow is compatible with the specified version of Hosted Login. See Upgrade to Hosted Login v2 for more information.

  • Hosted Login links. Onscreen links that direct users to locations such as your help center. Hosted Login ships with three of these links: to your help center, to your privacy policy, and to your terms of service. However, by default those links don’t actually take users anywhere. That's because Identity Cloud has no way of knowing, in advance, the URL to your hep center.. The Configuration API enables you to properly target those links.

  • Hosted Login two-factor authentication messages. Templates for managing the text messages and emails sent as part of two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to user logins and registrations. Following a successful login or registration, a user is sent an access code by using either email or text messaging. The user must supply that access code before login or registration can complete. See Two-factor authentication (2FA) for more information.

  • Locales. Languages that can be used when configuring the Hosted Login or the JavaScript SDK user experience. By default, Identity Cloud only supports the US English (en-US) locale. However, you can add additional locales and languages, enabling you to display your screens in German, in Hindi, and even in Klingon. See Supported languages and locales for information on the languages and locales that can be used with Hosted Login.

  • Strings. Text elements not tied to a specific form.

  • Translations. Methods for translating US English fields and string into other languages. See Localize screen text for more information.

  • Screens. Divs (sections) within your home page (index.html) that specify what the user sees on their device at a given time. Divs are roughly equivalent to pages.

  • Applications. Among other things, applications provide a way to centrally manage all of your API clients. For example, you can configure a collection of settings at the application level and, by default, have those values applied to each API client.

  • API clients. Primarily used to control access to the Identity Cloud APIs and to help define the user login and registration experience.

  • Entity types. Databases typically used to store user profiles and user information.

  • Attributes. A discrete bit of information in a user profile. A user’s first name is an attribute as is a user’s cell phone number or their date of birth. An attribute is roughly equivalent to a database field.