JavaScript single-page app tutorial - Microsoft identity platform

03/20/2019
13 minutes to read
- +2

This guide demonstrates how a JavaScript single-page application (SPA) can:

Sign in personal accounts, as well as work and school accounts
Acquire an access token
Call the Microsoft Graph API or other APIs that require access tokens from the Microsoft identity platform endpoint

How the sample app generated by this guide works

Shows how the sample app generated by this tutorial works

More information

The sample application created by this guide enables a JavaScript SPA to query the Microsoft Graph API or a web API that accepts tokens from the Microsoft identity platform endpoint. In this scenario, after a user signs in, an access token is requested and added to HTTP requests through the authorization header. Token acquisition and renewal are handled by the Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL).

Libraries

This guide uses the following library:

Library	Description
msal.js	Microsoft Authentication Library for JavaScript Preview

Note

Msal.js targets the Microsoft identity platform endpoint, which enables personal accounts and school and work accounts to sign in and acquire tokens. The Microsoft identity platform endpoint has some limitations. To understand the differences between the v1.0 and v2.0 endpoints, see the endpoint comparison guide.

Set up your web server or project

Prefer to download this sample's project instead? Do either of the following:

To run the project by using a local web server, such as Node.js, download the project files.

(Optional) To run the project by using the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) server, download the Visual Studio project.

To configure the code sample before you execute it, skip to the configuration step.

Prerequisites

To run this tutorial, you need a local web server, such as Node.js, .NET Core, or IIS Express integration with Visual Studio 2017.
If you're using Node.js to run the project, install an integrated development environment (IDE), such as Visual Studio Code, to edit the project files.
Instructions in this guide are based on both Node.js and Visual Studio 2017, but you can use any other development environment or web server.

Create your project

Option 1: Node.js or other web servers

Make sure you have Node.js installed, and then create a folder to host your application.

Option 2: Visual Studio

If you're using Visual Studio and are creating a new project, follow these steps:

In Visual Studio, select File > New > Project.

Under Visual C#\Web, select ASP.NET Web Application (.NET Framework).

Enter a name for your application, and then select OK.

Under New ASP.NET Web Application, select Empty.

Create the SPA UI

Create an index.html file for your JavaScript SPA. If you're using Visual Studio, select the project (project root folder). Right-click and select Add > New Item > HTML page, and name the file index.html.

In the index.html file, add the following code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Quickstart for MSAL JS</title>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/bluebird/3.3.4/bluebird.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://secure.aadcdn.microsoftonline-p.com/lib/1.0.0/js/msal.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <h2>Welcome to MSAL.js Quickstart</h2><br/>
    <h4 id="WelcomeMessage"></h4>
    <button id="SignIn" onclick="signIn()">Sign In</button><br/><br/>
    <pre id="json"></pre>
    <script>
        //JS code
    </script>
</body>
</html>

Tip

You can replace the version of MSAL.js in the preceding script with the latest released version under MSAL.js releases.

Add the following code to your index.html file within the <script></script> tags:

var msalConfig = {
    auth: {
        clientId: "Enter_the_Application_Id_here",
        authority: "https://login.microsoftonline.com/Enter_the_Tenant_Info_Here"
    },
    cache: {
        cacheLocation: "localStorage",
        storeAuthStateInCookie: true
    }
};

var graphConfig = {
    graphMeEndpoint: "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me"
};

// this can be used for login or token request, however in more complex situations
// this can have diverging options
var requestObj = {
     scopes: ["user.read"]
};

var myMSALObj = new Msal.UserAgentApplication(msalConfig);
// Register Callbacks for redirect flow
myMSALObj.handleRedirectCallback(authRedirectCallBack);


function signIn() {

    myMSALObj.loginPopup(requestObj).then(function (loginResponse) {
        //Login Success
        showWelcomeMessage();
        acquireTokenPopupAndCallMSGraph();
    }).catch(function (error) {
        console.log(error);
    });
}

function acquireTokenPopupAndCallMSGraph() {
    //Always start with acquireTokenSilent to obtain a token in the signed in user from cache
    myMSALObj.acquireTokenSilent(requestObj).then(function (tokenResponse) {
         callMSGraph(graphConfig.graphMeEndpoint, tokenResponse.accessToken, graphAPICallback);
    }).catch(function (error) {
         console.log(error);
         // Upon acquireTokenSilent failure (due to consent or interaction or login required ONLY)
         // Call acquireTokenPopup(popup window)
         if (requiresInteraction(error.errorCode)) {
             myMSALObj.acquireTokenPopup(requestObj).then(function (tokenResponse) {
                 callMSGraph(graphConfig.graphMeEndpoint, tokenResponse.accessToken, graphAPICallback);
             }).catch(function (error) {
                 console.log(error);
             });
         }
    });
}


function graphAPICallback(data) {
    document.getElementById("json").innerHTML = JSON.stringify(data, null, 2);
}


function showWelcomeMessage() {
    var divWelcome = document.getElementById('WelcomeMessage');
    divWelcome.innerHTML = 'Welcome ' + myMSALObj.getAccount().userName + "to Microsoft Graph API";
    var loginbutton = document.getElementById('SignIn');
    loginbutton.innerHTML = 'Sign Out';
    loginbutton.setAttribute('onclick', 'signOut();');
}


//This function can be removed if you do not need to support IE
function acquireTokenRedirectAndCallMSGraph() {
     //Always start with acquireTokenSilent to obtain a token in the signed in user from cache
     myMSALObj.acquireTokenSilent(requestObj).then(function (tokenResponse) {
         callMSGraph(graphConfig.graphMeEndpoint, tokenResponse.accessToken, graphAPICallback);
     }).catch(function (error) {
         console.log(error);
         // Upon acquireTokenSilent failure (due to consent or interaction or login required ONLY)
         // Call acquireTokenRedirect
         if (requiresInteraction(error.errorCode)) {
             myMSALObj.acquireTokenRedirect(requestObj);
         }
     });
}


function authRedirectCallBack(error, response) {
    if (error) {
        console.log(error);
    }
    else {
        if (response.tokenType === "access_token") {
            callMSGraph(graphConfig.graphEndpoint, response.accessToken, graphAPICallback);
        } else {
            console.log("token type is:" + response.tokenType);
        }
    }
}

function requiresInteraction(errorCode) {
    if (!errorCode || !errorCode.length) {
        return false;
    }
    return errorCode === "consent_required" ||
        errorCode === "interaction_required" ||
        errorCode === "login_required";
}

// Browser check variables
var ua = window.navigator.userAgent;
var msie = ua.indexOf('MSIE ');
var msie11 = ua.indexOf('Trident/');
var msedge = ua.indexOf('Edge/');
var isIE = msie > 0 || msie11 > 0;
var isEdge = msedge > 0;
//If you support IE, our recommendation is that you sign-in using Redirect APIs
//If you as a developer are testing using Edge InPrivate mode, please add "isEdge" to the if check
// can change this to default an experience outside browser use
var loginType = isIE ? "REDIRECT" : "POPUP";

if (loginType === 'POPUP') {
     if (myMSALObj.getAccount()) {// avoid duplicate code execution on page load in case of iframe and popup window.
         showWelcomeMessage();
         acquireTokenPopupAndCallMSGraph();
     }
}
else if (loginType === 'REDIRECT') {
    document.getElementById("SignIn").onclick = function () {
         myMSALObj.loginRedirect(requestObj);
    };
    if (myMSALObj.getAccount() && !myMSALObj.isCallback(window.location.hash)) {// avoid duplicate code execution on page load in case of iframe and popup window.
         showWelcomeMessage();
         acquireTokenRedirectAndCallMSGraph();
     }
} else {
    console.error('Please set a valid login type');
}

More information

After a user selects the Sign In button for the first time, the signIn method calls loginPopup to sign in the user. This method opens a pop-up window with the Microsoft identity platform endpoint to prompt and validate the user's credentials. After a successful sign-in, the user is redirected back to the original index.html page. A token is received, processed by msal.js, and the information contained in the token is cached. This token is known as the ID token and contains basic information about the user, such as the user display name. If you plan to use any data provided by this token for any purposes, you need to make sure this token is validated by your backend server to guarantee that the token was issued to a valid user for your application.

The SPA generated by this guide calls acquireTokenSilent and/or acquireTokenPopup to acquire an access token used to query the Microsoft Graph API for user profile info. If you need a sample that validates the ID token, take a look at this sample application in GitHub. The sample uses an ASP.NET Web API for token validation.

Getting a user token interactively

After the initial sign-in, you do not want to ask users to reauthenticate every time they need to request a token to access a resource. So acquireTokenSilent should be used most of the time to acquire tokens. There are situations, however, where you need to force users to interact with Microsoft identity platform endpoint. Examples include:

Users need to reenter their credentials because the password has expired.
Your application is requesting access to a resource, and you need the user's consent.
Two-factor authentication is required.

Calling acquireTokenPopup opens a pop-up window (or acquireTokenRedirect redirects users to the Microsoft identity platform endpoint). In that window, users need to interact by confirming their credentials, giving consent to the required resource, or completing the two-factor authentication.

Getting a user token silently

The acquireTokenSilent method handles token acquisition and renewal without any user interaction. After loginPopup (or loginRedirect) is executed for the first time, acquireTokenSilent is the method commonly used to obtain tokens used to access protected resources for subsequent calls. (Calls to request or renew tokens are made silently.) acquireTokenSilent may fail in some cases. For example, the user's password may have expired. Your application can handle this exception in two ways:

Make a call to acquireTokenPopup immediately, which triggers a user sign-in prompt. This pattern is commonly used in online applications where there is no unauthenticated content in the application available to the user. The sample generated by this guided setup uses this pattern.
Applications can also make a visual indication to the user that an interactive sign-in is required, so the user can select the right time to sign in, or the application can retry acquireTokenSilent at a later time. This is commonly used when the user can use other functionality of the application without being disrupted. For example, there might be unauthenticated content available in the application. In this situation, the user can decide when they want to sign in to access the protected resource, or to refresh the outdated information.

Note

This quickstart uses the loginRedirect and acquireTokenRedirect methods when Internet Explorer is the browser used. We follow this practice because of a known issue related to the way Internet Explorer handles pop-up windows.

Call the Microsoft Graph API by using the token you just acquired

Add the following code to your index.html file within the <script></script> tags:

function callMSGraph(theUrl, accessToken, callback) {
    var xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200)
            callback(JSON.parse(this.responseText));
    }
    xmlHttp.open("GET", theUrl, true); // true for asynchronous
    xmlHttp.setRequestHeader('Authorization', 'Bearer ' + accessToken);
    xmlHttp.send();
}

More information about making a REST call against a protected API

In the sample application created by this guide, the callMSGraph() method is used to make an HTTP GET request against a protected resource that requires a token. The request then returns the content to the caller. This method adds the acquired token in the HTTP Authorization header. For the sample application created by this guide, the resource is the Microsoft Graph API me endpoint, which displays the user's profile information.

Add a method to sign out the user

Add the following code to your index.html file within the <script></script> tags:

/**
 * Sign out the user
 */
 function signOut() {
     myMSALObj.logout();
 }

Register your application

Sign in to the Azure portal.
If your account gives you access to more than one tenant, select the account at the upper right, and then set your portal session to the Azure AD tenant that you want to use.
Go to the Microsoft identity platform for developers App registrations page.
When the Register an application page appears, enter a name for your application.
Under Supported account types, select Accounts in any organizational directory and personal Microsoft accounts.
In the Redirect URI section, select the Web platform from the drop-down list, and then set the value to the application URL that's based on your web server.

For information about how to set and obtain the redirect URL for Node.js and Visual Studio, see the following "Set a redirect URL for Node.js" section and Set a redirect URL for Visual Studio.
Select Register.
On the app Overview page, note the Application (client) ID value for later use.
This quickstart requires the Implicit grant flow to be enabled. In the left pane of the registered application, select Authentication.
In Advanced settings, under Implicit grant, select the ID tokens and Access tokens check boxes. ID tokens and access tokens are required because this app must sign in users and call an API.
Select Save.

Set a redirect URL for Node.js

For Node.js, you can set the web server port in the server.js file. This tutorial uses port 30662, but you can use any other available port.

To set up a redirect URL in the application registration information, switch back to the Application Registration pane, and do either of the following:

Set http://localhost:30662/ as the Redirect URL.

If you're using a custom TCP port, use http://localhost:<port>/ (where <port> is the custom TCP port number).

Set a redirect URL for Visual Studio

To obtain the redirect URL for Visual Studio, follow these steps:

In Solution Explorer, select the project.

The Properties window opens. If it doesn't, press F4.

Copy the URL value.

Switch back to the Application Registration pane, and paste the copied value as the Redirect URL.

Configure your JavaScript SPA

In the index.html file that you created during project setup, add the application registration information. At the top of the file, within the <script></script> tags, add the following code:
```
var msalConfig = {
    auth: {
        clientId: "<Enter_the_Application_Id_here>",
        authority: "https://login.microsoftonline.com/<Enter_the_Tenant_info_here>"
    },
    cache: {
        cacheLocation: "localStorage",
        storeAuthStateInCookie: true
    }
};
```
Where:
- <Enter_the_Application_Id_here> is the Application (client) ID for the application you registered.
- <Enter_the_Tenant_info_here> is set to one of the following options:
  - If your application supports Accounts in this organizational directory, replace this value with the Tenant ID or Tenant name (for example, contoso.microsoft.com).
  - If your application supports Accounts in any organizational directory, replace this value with organizations.
  - If your application supports Accounts in any organizational directory and personal Microsoft accounts, replace this value with common. To restrict support to Personal Microsoft accounts only, replace this value with consumers.

Test your code

Test your code by using either of the following environments.

Test with Node.js

If you're not using Visual Studio, make sure your web server is started.

Configure the server to listen to a TCP port that's based on the location of your index.html file. For Node.js, start the web server to listen to the port by running the following commands at a command-line prompt from the application folder:
```
npm install
node server.js
```
In your browser, enter http://<span></span>localhost:30662 or http://<span></span>localhost:{port}, where port is the port that your web server is listening to. You should see the contents of your index.html file and the Sign In button.

Test with Visual Studio

If you're using Visual Studio, select the project solution, and then press F5 to run your project. The browser opens to the http://localhost:{port} location, and the Sign In button should be visible.

Test your application

After the browser loads your index.html file, select Sign In. You're prompted to sign in with the Microsoft identity platform endpoint:

The JavaScript SPA account sign-in window

The first time that you sign in to your application, you're prompted to grant it access to your profile and sign you in:

The "Permissions requested" window

View application results

After you sign in, your user profile information is returned in the Microsoft Graph API response that's displayed:

Results from the Microsoft Graph API call

More information about scopes and delegated permissions

The Microsoft Graph API requires the user.read scope to read a user's profile. By default, this scope is automatically added in every application that's registered on the registration portal. Other APIs for Microsoft Graph, as well as custom APIs for your back-end server, might require additional scopes. For example, the Microsoft Graph API requires the Calendars.Read scope in order to list the user’s calendars.

To access the user’s calendars in the context of an application, add the Calendars.Read delegated permission to the application registration information. Then, add the Calendars.Read scope to the acquireTokenSilent call.

Note

The user might be prompted for additional consents as you increase the number of scopes.

If a back-end API doesn't require a scope (not recommended), you can use clientId as the scope in the calls to acquire tokens.

Help and support

If you need help, want to report an issue, or want to learn more about your support options, see the following article:

Help and support for developers

Help us improve the Microsoft identity platform. Tell us what you think by completing a short two-question survey.

Microsoft identity platform survey

How the sample app generated by this guide works

More information

Libraries

Set up your web server or project

Prerequisites

Create your project

Option 1: Node.js or other web servers

Option 2: Visual Studio

Create the SPA UI

More information

Getting a user token interactively

Getting a user token silently

Call the Microsoft Graph API by using the token you just acquired

More information about making a REST call against a protected API

Add a method to sign out the user

Register your application

Set a redirect URL for Node.js

Set a redirect URL for Visual Studio

Configure your JavaScript SPA

Test your code

Test with Node.js

Test with Visual Studio

Test your application

View application results

More information about scopes and delegated permissions

Help and support

Is this page helpful?

Feedback

Liquid error: Can't find the localized string giveDocumentationFeedback for template Conceptual.

Is this page helpful?

Sign in users and call the Microsoft Graph API from a JavaScript single-page application (SPA)

How the sample app generated by this guide works

More information

Libraries

Set up your web server or project

Prerequisites

Create your project

Option 1: Node.js or other web servers

Option 2: Visual Studio

Create the SPA UI

Use the Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) to sign in the user

More information

Getting a user token interactively

Getting a user token silently

Call the Microsoft Graph API by using the token you just acquired

More information about making a REST call against a protected API

Add a method to sign out the user

Register your application

Set a redirect URL for Node.js

Set a redirect URL for Visual Studio

Configure your JavaScript SPA

Test your code

Test with Node.js

Test with Visual Studio

Test your application

Provide consent for application access

View application results

More information about scopes and delegated permissions

Help and support

Is this page helpful?

Feedback

Liquid error: Can't find the localized string giveDocumentationFeedback for template Conceptual.

Is this page helpful?