Android: Login with Twitter using Twitter4J

Question

What I Have Tried:

I already have registered an app in twitter and got Consumer Key and Secret.Even I got various codes to login with twitter.These are what I have tried from:

http://thetechnib.blogspot.com/2011/01/android-sign-in-with-twitter.html

[This link is dead, you may view an archive here]
http://www.android10.org/index.php/articleslibraries/291-twitter-integration-in-your-android-application

Problem I have:

Till now,above code takes me to twitter login and let me sign in and have a PIN to complete the login process.But I have no idea how to use it to get my app working.I checked the whole code but found nothing related to pin.

Secondly,when I registered my app on twitter,it asked for Callback URL but as it was written that its really not needed,i skipped specifying.(Even I don't know what it should be!)

And hence,I am giving null as CallbackURL in my app.

Can anyone suggest me,how can I use this PIN to complete login process and get user back to my app's main activity? Is it the callback url which is causing problem or something else I am doing wrong at?

Please reply.Any help appriciated! Thanks.

EDIT :

As suggested by Frankenstein,I tried code at github.com/ddewaele/AndroidTwitterSample/downloads

I added my consumer key and consumer secret along with callback url:

public static final String OAUTH_CALLBACK_SCHEME= "x-oauthflow-twitter";
public static final String OAUTH_CALLBACK_HOST= "callback";
public static final String OAUTH_CALLBACK_URL= OAUTH_CALLBACK_SCHEME + "://" + OAUTH_CALLBACK_HOST;

but it gives me this error:

Logcat:

11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081): Error during OAUth retrieve request token
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081): oauth.signpost.exception.OAuthNotAuthorizedException: Authorization failed (server replied with a 401). This can happen if the consumer key was not correct or the signatures did not match.
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at oauth.signpost.AbstractOAuthProvider.handleUnexpectedResponse(AbstractOAuthProvider.java:239)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at oauth.signpost.AbstractOAuthProvider.retrieveToken(AbstractOAuthProvider.java:189)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at oauth.signpost.AbstractOAuthProvider.retrieveRequestToken(AbstractOAuthProvider.java:69)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask.doInBackground(OAuthRequestTokenTask.java:55)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask.doInBackground(OAuthRequestTokenTask.java:1)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:185)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:305)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:137)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1068)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:561)
11-29 11:56:56.249: E/com.ecs.android.sample.twitter.OAuthRequestTokenTask(3081):   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1096)

Also shows me black screen when i click on TWEET button,instead of taking me to sign in screen of twitter.

Omg,I am going to be crazy...have been trying since two days! :( please help.

Solution 1

It's because your app is registered as a desktop client. To overwrite callback URL, your app need to be registered as a browser client.

Try configuring a dummy callback URL (http://example.com/ or whatever you want) at https://dev.twitter.com/apps/[appid]/settings > Callback URL and your app will be recognized as a browser client.

Then try @Frankenstein or @jamn224 code.

Solution 2

First, you need to authenticate properly:

try{
        consumer = new CommonsHttpOAuthConsumer(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET);
        provider = new DefaultOAuthProvider("http://twitter.com/oauth/request_token", "http://twitter.com/oauth/access_token", "http://twitter.com/oauth/authorize");
        String authUrl = provider.retrieveRequestToken(consumer, CALLBACK_URL);

        startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(authUrl)));

    }catch(Exception e){
        Log.e(TAG,e+"");
    }

The necessities for CALLBACK_URL need to be set in the Manifest file (refer to Frankenstein's answer). The above code starts an intent to perform the authorization at Twitter's server. The callback information is necessary so the intent knows what app to return to after the authorization procedure.

Then we need to handle the return to the app after authenticating at Twitter:

    @Override
public void onResume(){
    super.onResume();

    if (this.getIntent()!=null && this.getIntent().getData()!=null){
        Uri uri = this.getIntent().getData();

        //handle returning from authenticating the user
        if (uri != null && uri.toString().startsWith(CALLBACK_URL)) {
            String verifier = uri.getQueryParameter(oauth.signpost.OAuth.OAUTH_VERIFIER);
            String token = uri.getQueryParameter(oauth.signpost.OAuth.OAUTH_TOKEN);
            try {  
                Twitter t = new TwitterFactory().getInstance();
                t.setOAuthConsumer(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET);

                // Get Access Token and store it  
                rToken = new RequestToken(token, CONSUMER_SECRET);
                AccessToken aToken = t.getOAuthAccessToken(rToken);
                storeAccessToken(aToken);  

                //send to checkLoginState again since we have authorization now!
                checkLoginState(); 

           } catch (Exception e) {  
               Log.e(TAG, e+"");  
           }  
          }  
         }
}//end onResume

This code grabs the data from the returning intent, among which is the info to grab the authorization token. "storeAccessToken(aToken)" is a short method i wrote that stores the token in the app's preferences so that we don't need to reauthorize every time the app is opened.

Now that we have an authorization token, we can use it authorize a Twitter instance:

twitter = new TwitterFactory().getInstance();
        twitter.setOAuthConsumer(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET);
        twitter.setOAuthAccessToken(aToken);

The above variable "twitter" is now authorized and can do its thing.

Solution 3

you should be writing callback as this in manifest to your activity

<activity android:name="com.apps.twitter.PrepareRequestTokenActivity"
            android:launchMode="singleTask" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait">
            <intent-filter>
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
                <data android:scheme="x-oauthflow-twitter" android:host="callback" />
            </intent-filter>
</activity>

And in the Constant File

final public static String  CALLBACK_SCHEME = "x-oauthflow-twitter";    
final public static String  CALLBACK_URL = CALLBACK_SCHEME + "://callback";

Comments

[Hiral Vadodaria]

I have tried this with code specified in 2nd reference link of my question.But unfortunately,it doesn't work for me. :( anyways,thanks.

[Hiral Vadodaria]

Also giving "" as CallbackURL lets me sign in with twitter but just I am stuck at is,I don't know what to do with the PIN i get to complete sign in process.

[Hiral Vadodaria]

Thanks for the reply.I will look into this.

[jmcdale]

Oops... an important thing to mention is that I am using the open source signpost libraries for assistance with the oAuth procedures. I use the commons library and the core library, both of which can be found here

[Hiral Vadodaria]

Can you please tell me how to store the tokens? I mean,can you give me codes of methods storeAccessToken(aToken) and checkLoginState() as well?

[Hiral Vadodaria]

1 more question,won't it give me PIN to complete the login process even once i get to sign into twitter using this code? my question is only that,how to use that PIN in our app.Even if we get user to enter pin somewhere in our app,how would we use it and prevent him entering everytime he open the app?

[Hiral Vadodaria]

Thanks for the response. I will surely try and let you know.

[jmcdale]

I've never needed to use a PIN in my authorization process... so I can't help you there, sorry. public void storeAccessToken(AccessToken aToken){SharedPreferences.Editor editor = settings.edit(); editor.putString(PREFS_TWITTER_USER_TOKEN, aToken.getToken()); editor.putString(PREFS_TWITTER_USER_SECRET, aToken.getTokenSecret()); editor.commit();} As for checkLoginState(), it's just an if statement. It checks to see if I've stored aToken. If I have, then create a Twitter instance and do whatever. If not, then run authentication procedures.

[Hiral Vadodaria]

I tried with someone else's Key-Secret pair and it worked perfectly.So can there be problem with just my pair of the same? if so,what can it be?

[Hiral Vadodaria]

Even i tried deleting the app and creating a new one on dev.twitter account but even new pair doesn't seem to be working! :(

[jmcdale]

That is strange. I don't see why another key-secret would be working and not yours.

[Hiral Vadodaria]

I got the solution.I didn't give callback url in twitter registration.it was just blank so twitter was considering my app as desktop app and hence causing problem.Setting a url there solved my issue. thanks anyways!! :)

[Someone Somewhere]

Question: does the AccessToken expire ?