Can anyone explain how to set up BTP authentication for various SAP Build App scenarios

[TMNielsen]

I am an backend ABAP developer that was never keen on getting into the newer frontend development tool like java, fiori, CDS annotations etc. etc etc etc, so this new option "SAP Build Apps" seems to be my change to get back into the game 🙂

But I find it sooo hard to make a test system work.

I have finally succeeded setting up a BTP with ABAP, SAP Build Apps and SAP Build Automation, but it was a struggle and i'm not there yet. I will not give you all the details of this tedious struggle so far, but simply say that I am stuck with some authentication problem and as I basically doesn't not understand this authentication setup between BTP and SAP Build Apps I hope some one in this SAP Builders group can help.

The history of my setup is that I have

1. subscribed to BTP Pay-as-you-go
2. Run the booster "Prepare an Account for ABAP Development (Free-Tier)"
3. Created a custom IAS tenant as described in this  blog 
4. Run the booster "Get started with SAP Build Apps"

In BTP my user is linked to two  identity provider:

Now I have tried to complete an exercise/tutorial  where I must first create an Application Backend - this went well. Next step I must build the application frontend and add integration to the Application Backend, but here i hit the Authentication wall.
As one of the first steps in the process for creating the frontend app I go to the data tab and Select the "Add Integration" button. In the next screen I am supposed to select the "Cloud Functions ->" buttion. under Visual Cloud Functions, but that button is grayed out and when i hover the mouse over it it says "Please configure SAP BTP authentication first".

Of course I would like to get a solution for this current obstacle, but I would also love to get a broader explanation of what authentication is taking place between different object in an app.

In this case the question is what authentication is between the frontend app and the backend app and where in BTP can I control this authenticaion - but I would also like to understand what authentication takes place between the app and for example a service build on top of a CDS view in an ABAP backend system. 

I totally have a feeling that there are some basic misunderstandings on my side, but I really can't pinpoint it.

Kind regards
Thomas Madsen Nielsen

[MarcHuber]

Hi Thomas,

I added an instruction (starts at 4.1.) to the  exercise how to activate the BTP authentication. We are reusing the trust configuration of the BTP subaccount for authenticating the users.

Best regards;
Marc

[TMNielsen]

Thanks @MarcHuber, I was now able to build the app from the exercise.

I also found this documentation. Currently I don't exactly understand what is going on under the surface, but at least I am now able to get familiar with the Build App tools by creating test apps.

One thing I still need to understand is authorizations.

If I have build 2 apps A and B and create 2 users X and Y. Now I want to make sure that user X can run both apps but user Y is only allowed to run app B. How to set up this authorization?

[karanbir14]

Great Article !

[karanbir14]

Good work