start_auth Method

Initiates an authentication process.

Syntax

def start_auth(user_id: str) -> int: ...

Remarks

Call this method to start an authentication process for UserID.

The authentication process may consist of multiple atomic steps. Each step represents a single authentication transaction, such as provision of a password, a PIN, or a one-time token. The exact authentication step sequence for the user is chosen according to the following rules:

• If the user is found in the users database, all authentication methods specified for that user are activated;
• otherwise, the methods assigned to default_auth_methods are activated;
• on_auth_start event is thrown, allowing the application to tune up the selection of authentication methods if needed.
• the first method from the list is initiated.

This method may return one of the three results:

The authentication succeeded result is returned if the authentication method selection procedure completed with an empty method list. A typical result of this method though is further authentication required, which indicates that the next authentication method has kicked off. Use rpAuthInfo; property to find out which authentication method should be used on this step, and solicit the relevant authentication token from the user. Pass the received token to the continue_auth method for validation.