How is it possible to automatically register a user and keep it anonymous? In fact, what happens is that the application generated automatically creates a "user" of [19888] using the device identifier. The user created automatically has the following characteristics:
- It is seen by the application as any other user. See GAM - Auto-register anonymous user - Panel usage example
- It is absolutely anonymous from the personal viewpoint. No personal data of the individual operating the device is known, requested or saved.
- It is possible to know the device identifier.
After having used the applications as an anonymous user, if the user decides to register in the application, GAM creates the new user (with the registration details) and assigns the same UserId that the auto-registered user had.
This allows for any information related to the auto-registered user saved by our application to remain associated to the new user registered.
How could the auto-registered anonymous user and the registered user be combined?
In the context of the GAM - Auto-register anonymous user - Panel usage example consider the following case:
If the dashboard has Auto-register Anonymous User property = TRUE, and Integrated Security Level property = NONE, as shown in the figure:
This means that it is possible to access this dashboard without entering credentials, but the user cannot be auto-registered.
Note that the dashboard has an Action Item that is a SD panel called "SubscribeNovel". Just like the dashboard calling it, it has the property Integrated Security Level = NONE:
This means that the behavior is the same as for the dashboard – this SD panel will be executed without request for login or auto-register.
The REST service SubscribeToNovels is called from the SD panel object. Note in the image that Integrated Security Level = Authentication has been set in the procedure.
Therefore, when trying to execute this service, because it requires authentication and is in the tree of calls of a dashboard object that accepts the registry of anonymous users, an auto-registration will occur through the mechanism described.
Every smart device can be singularly identified by means of a DeviceId, which enables the GAM to automatically create a "user" for the device in a transparent manner. Such user will be identified by the device Id. This user is considered by the application as a registered user. Specifically, any data that the logic of the application associates to a user will be then associated to that user’s identifier that has been automatically created.
This user’s session never expires (meaning that the OAuth token expire (minutes) does not apply to the case of anonymous users’ sessions).
When the user of the device decides to register (GAM - Registration) using any of the methods available, the GAM will automatically relate the new user registered to the user created for the device, maintaining the user identifier. This prevents the application from having to make changes to the user-data relations it has already established.
Note: The registration has to be done using the GAM - Local Authentication Type to relate the registered user to the anonymous user.