Let's dig into the code to see what's actually happening here.

First let's take a look at www/js/services.js:

// auth service
app.factory('auth',
   function($window, salesforce_client_id) {

  return {
     get: function () {
       var data = $window.localStorage.auth;
       console.log('auth.get', data);
       return data ? JSON.parse(data) : false;
  },

  set: function (data) {
   data = JSON.stringify(data);
   console.log('auth.set', data);
   $window.localStorage.auth = data;

  },

  erase: function () {
   delete $window.localStorage.auth;
  },

// open OAuth page in external browser
openLogin: function () {
  $window.open(
    'https://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2
          /authorize' +
    '?response_type=token&display=touch' +
    '&redirect_uri=sfsampleapp://oauth-callback' +
    '&client_id=' + salesforce_client_id,
   '_system',
   'location=yes'

     )

   }

 }

});

We see the auth service defined. It has methods to read/store/delete login information and openLogin() method, which opens the salesforce.com login dialog optimized for smartphones. Now that we know what the auth service is, we can understand the following piece of code in www/js/app.js:

  ...

It basically checks whether we have an auth token, and if not, opens the salesforce login dialog. When the user is done with login, the browser is redirected to the redirect_uri parameter passed initially to the Salesforce OAuth server.

In our case, it is sfsampleapp://oauth-callback – custom URL scheme that our app is registered to handle.

When the app is invoked with this custom URL scheme, the global handleOpenURL() function is executed:

The actual URL received by this function looks like:

sfsampleapp://oauth-callback

#access_token=TOKEN

&instance_url=https%3A%2F%2Fna15.salesforce.com

&id=https%3A%2F%2Flogin.salesforce.com
%2Fid%2F00Di0000000i7UjEAI%2F005i0000002Cy97AAC

&issued_at=1398573122814
&signature=NDlJ9Gnz1of90yb1%2
                BvIgwPtl%2FQqEU31bJZ392LZeWf3D

&scope=full

&token_type=Bearer

Here is the meaning of some of the passed params:

• access_token - temporary token authorizes access to Salesforce APIs

• instance_url - API endpoint that should be used by our application

• issued_at - Unix timestamp of the token creation date

Authentication params are parsed into a JavaScript object and then using $scope.$apply() and LoginController passed to auth service to be saved.

Now, once we have the access token, the rest is done with CRUD operations on a Position resource in www/js/controlles.js.

Creation of the new Position object with POST method on collection:

Update with PATCH method on resource:

And finally we use GET method to retrieve stored positions in HistoryController:

$.ajax({
  url: authData.instance_url +  
     '/services/data/v29.0/sobjects/Position__c/' +
     $rootScope.positionObjectId,

  type: 'GET',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': authData.token_type + ' ' +  
                            authData.access_token,
    'Content-type': 'application/json'
 }
})

Conclusion

We have created an app utilizing Salesforce Platform in a flexible way, without using any SDKs or libraries, but using only open standards - OAuth protocol and RESTful APIs. The same approach can be easily ported to virtually any environment, making it attractive in a modern multi-platform environment.

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