Change security question & answer programmatically

[Former Member]

Hi all

I've had a look at the security api documentation on SAP help, but I can't find where to programmatically set the security question & answer for a user. I am developing a custom self-registration application, which needs to allow the user to define these two attributes - but I can't see where to do it.

Please could someone help point me in the right direction here?

Thanks

Stuart

[Vlado · Accepted solution]

Hi Stuart,

Programmatic change of UME properties like the security question & answer is not supported by the UME API.

Regards,

\-- Vladimir

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Vladimir

I absolutely MUST have this functionality for the project I'm working on. When will the API be updated to support this?

Unfortunately I don't know of any way to customise the self registration application, so I'm left with the only option of writing my own self-reg app. Additionally, I need to expose this functionality inside the portal for registered users to maintain their security Q&A.

Please let me know what options are available. I'm surprised that this isn't available already, given that most of the remaining security API is provided.

Thanks

Stuart

[MichaelShea · Accepted solution]

Hi Stuart,

I am afraid that Vladimir is at least partly correct. The UME properties are not at issue here, but rather the attributes of the user account. See [Logical Attributes|http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/e6/d75d3760735b41be930f2dddae3126/frameset.htm]. You can change the user-defined security question in the attribute securityquestion with the setAttribute() or setBinaryAttribute() methods. However, changing the security answer is problematic. The UME expects this attribute to be a hash value of the security answer. The method for creating a hash value is not public. Ideally SAP would extend the API to save the security answer as a hash value. Unfortunately, I do not see this happening any time in the near future. I am sorry that we were not able to help you further.

-Michael

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Michael

The list of logical attributes is very useful to refer back to - as I'm sure this kind of issue is likely to happen again in the future.

The problem with SAP not extending the API to set the security answer is a major problem though! We're creating an external facing portal, and the entire portal will be customised - so we can't (and won't) use the Personalize link in the top right for users to maintain this info. It won't fit the overall look & feel of our portal, and I'm not particularly fond of the way it looks & behaves anyway.

Is there any way I can submit a development request for the security Q&A functionality? It's surprising that it hasn't already been done, seeing as the security API already has basically everything else we could need. What would you recommend?

Thanks

Stuart

[MichaelShea · Accepted solution]

Stuart,

I have passed your request on to the relevant parties, but do not get your hopes up. Hopefully they will let you know what their decision is in the near future.

If you are willing to build your own logon application, naturally you can implement your own properties and attributes to handle the security question and answer programmatically. This requires a bit more effort on your part, but may be the only way to do what your are trying to do.

-Michael

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Michael

I appreciate you passing on the request.

Unfortunately I don't think that me developing this functionality will solve the problem. If I start developing the security functionality myself, then I lose the advantages of using Portal - may as well develop my entire application outside of it. That was one of the big selling points of Portal, so losing it would be a little bit embarrassing to explain to our clients.

I'll just wait and hope that they develop this functionality.

Thanks again for your help.

Stuart

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi

We also have the requirement to set the question and answer to initial default.

Has there been any updates to this solution...

thanks

Francois

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I have solved this.... anybody know where to set the predefined list of questions?

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Francois,

How did u solve this problem?

Kind Regards,

Add Belati

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I also faced the issue for almost every Web-Channel project I have and I currently have again the same issue.

These are the main technical issues

1) The Logon module is not provided with the source code, so knowone can use the NWDS to download the project from the NWDI and modify it as required.

2) All libraries used by the Logon module are protected, so you can't simply create a own project and just copy and paste the frontend code into your own project as you can't assign the required DCs directly to your own SC/DC.

3) There is almost no extension mechanism to include some own logic as example to validate provided details such as the business partner.

To change the look & feel of the component, you have to modify the logon module directly on the J2EE instance by replacing the relevant JSP files .... already quite strange. but it is getting less professional as this method is actually the recommended method if you follow the OSS notes!

Ok, that's all worthless for me as I have to deliver real solutions to my customers and not a never ending workaround. I wrote my own loggon module.

As I currently have also the security question requirement, I will solve it as follow

- Define 2 additional customer attributes within the UME (<namespace>:question & <namespace>:answer)

- On registration, collect the question & answer and fill both attributes into the User Object. The UMEFactory provides you an Object, where you can read & write the attributes

- On passwort reset, just read out the attributes and compare it with the provided customer input.

If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me

Andreas Halbig

SAP CRM, Web-Channel & Mobile Application Consultant

andreas.halbig(a-t)ecomize.com

[Former Member]

Hi,

I have same problem to set the value of security question and security answer. I have checked the security api for the methods but could not find any. Can anyone of you'll tell me how to achieve this functionality.

Thanks