A consumer is another web application that is allowed to send requests to this application on behalf of an authorized user. In other words, a consumer is a client application that consumes (or possibly generates/updates) the information of ${local-app} (through this app) using an authorized ${local-app} user.

Consumers are needed to create incoming OSLC Links; this means you need to register the OSLC Remote Application as a consumer of ${local-app}, if you want to create OSLC Links on the OSLC Remote Application side; keep in mind that additional configuration will be required also there, but for now let's focus on the requirements of this side.

There are two types of consumers (depending on the type of its Key):

1. Consumers with an Authorized Key
   • They are registered directly in the consumers page.
   • Once registered, they can start accessing the system right away.
    
2. Consumers with a Provisional Key
   • They are registered (requested) from a remote friend application, not in the consumers page.
   • Once registered, they cannot access the system until they are approved to do so.

Another way of categorizing consumers is whether they are trusted or not:

1. Trusted consumers are not required to be authorized by the user after the user authentication process.
2. Not-trusted consumers need to be authorized by the user even after the user authentication process ^[1].

Next procedures focus on actions you can do in the consumers page, this means the registry and removal of consumers is about consumers with authorized key; it also means you won't find a procedure to register a consumer with a provisional key.

Registering a Consumer

1. In the Consumers page, click the Add Consumer button on top right.
2. Fill out the form in the Add Consumer dialog according to the following field descriptions:

   Field	Required	Description	Notes	Suggested Value
   Name	Yes	Logical name for human identification.	Commonly the client application name.	The OSLC Remote Application name.
   Key	No	Unique consumer identifier.	System will generate one for you if not provided.	Leave it empty
   Secret	Yes	Consumer password.	Along with Key, required for consumer authentication.	Whatever you want you don't forget.
   Confirmation	Yes	Password confirmation.	Just a confirmation field to avoid password typos.	The same as Secret field.
   Functional User	No	User to work in behalf of.	Required in specific scenarios where direct server to server authentication is required.
   Trusted	Yes	Whether a consumer will be trusted or not.	Check to avoid extra user authorization on each session.	checked

3. Click on the Add button.

If everything went OK, a new consumer entry will be displayed on the Authorized Keys section; note: the Secret field is hidden. If you decided to provide a custom Key field value, make sure there is not an existing consumer with the same key or you will get an error message from the system.

Deleting a Consumer

1. In the Consumers page, locate the Authorized Keys section and table at the bottom of the center panel.
2. Choose the consumer you want to delete and click on the delete icon located on the last column of the table.
3. Confirm your decision by clicking on the OK button in the confirmation dialog.

If everything went OK, the chosen consumer will be deleted from the system and it will no longer appear on the table.

Updating a Consumer

1. In the Consumers page, locate the Authorized Keys section and table at the bottom of the center panel.
2. Choose the consumer you want to update and click on the pencil icon located on the last column of the table.
3. Update consumer's information in the opened dialog (Key field is not editable).
4. Click on the Update button to save these changes.

Accepting/Rejecting Provisional Keys

If a remote friend application requested a provisional key, such request will be waiting an approval/rejection from the ${local-app} server administrator. The friend application won't be able to connect to ${local-app} while this request is not approved. To approve/reject provisional key requests:

1. In the Consumers page, locate the Provisional Keys section and table in the middle of the center panel.
2. Look up the provisional key you are interested in and select an action from the combo in the Authorized column, depending on what you want to do:
   • Approve to accept the provisional key request.
   • Reject to reject the provisional key request.
3. Click on the Save button.

You can approve/reject multiple keys at the same time. If you chose to accept a request, the key entry will be moved to the Authorized Keys section and table; otherwise it will be removed from the current table. Note: provisional-key consumers will be trusted or untrusted depending on how they were requested; if you want to change this, follow the Updating a Consumer steps.

^[1] User authorization implies an extra click to confirm the information consuming, once per new session.