Twitter API - OOB Flow

Question

I'm developing a mobile application that needs access to Twitter. There's a ton of documentation relating to using the Twitter API with web apps, but I'm having a hard time finding the correct flow or any examples using out-of-band/PIN code mode for desktop & mobile applications.

Can anyone point me to a link or some code examples (preferebly in C#) that can show me how to use the Twitter API from a desktop or mobile application?

Thanks.

Answer 1

There is some description of OOB flow in the Glossary section at the bottom of http://dev.twitter.com/pages/auth

out of band mode - Instead of providing a URL-based callback when acquiring a request token, "oob" is supplied. Once the user has given Twitter their account credentials, they are presented with a screen containing a PIN code and are asked to enter this code into the application. The application then sends this PIN as an oauth_verifier to the access token step to complete the exchange.

What that means in practice, compared to the normal web flow:

1. In step (A) your app starts the flow by opening a browser window to the OAuth flow, but sends a request param of oauth_callback=oob rather than a callback URL
2. Step (C) ends with Twitter displaying an authorization result page containing a PIN for the user (rather than making a callback to your app with the normal web flow)
3. Step (D) requires the user to copy / type the PIN from the Twitter authentication page into your app (your app obviously needs some kind of "Waiting for authorization code..." screen for this :)
4. Step (E) your app sends the PIN entered by the user back to Twitter in the oauth_verifier param to get an access token.

Try the OAuthConsumerWpf sample in DotNetOpenAuth http://www.dotnetopenauth.net/ for an example of OAuth Consumer code that you should be able to modify.