Version: 5.2.x

Create User

Create User#

To create a user, you will need to make a TLS request to the OpenHIM API for the below method and endpoint and supply the JSON object for the user.

Method: POST
Endpoint: {openhim_url}:8080/users
Payload: JSON object of the user

Example#

Languages
Sample Data

Before we can send our request to the OpenHIM API we need to ensure that we construct our valid HTTP headers to successfully authenticate with the OpenHIM API.

NodeJS
Bash

Copy the below code at the bottom of your nodejs script that handles the authentication of the OpenHIM headers as described in the authentication section.

Replace the openhimOptions values with the correct implementation details and supply the SampleData payload to submit. You will also need to update the userPassword variable to your desired password. The password will be used to create the passwordHash and passwordSalt, which are added to the SampleData payload.

// append below code to the "openhim-api.js" script containing the authentication methods.
// This is described within the authentication section

const genUserPassword = (password) => {
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    const passwordSalt = crypto.randomBytes(16)

    // create passhash
    let shasum = crypto.createHash('sha512')
    shasum.update(password)
    shasum.update(passwordSalt.toString('hex'))
    const passwordHash = shasum.digest('hex')

    resolve({
      "passwordSalt": passwordSalt.toString('hex'),
      "passwordHash": passwordHash
    })
  })
}

(async () => {
  const openhimOptions = {
    apiURL: 'https://localhost:8080',
    apiEndpoint: '/users',
    username: '[email protected]',
    password: 'openhim-password',
    rejectUnauthorized: false
  }

  const userPassword = "user-password"
  const userPasswordDetails = await genUserPassword(userPassword)

  const SampleData = 'SampleData'

  SampleData.passwordHash = userPasswordDetails.passwordHash
  SampleData.passwordSalt = userPasswordDetails.passwordSalt

  const headers = await genAuthHeaders(openhimOptions)

  const options = {
    method: 'POST',
    url: `${openhimOptions.apiURL}${openhimOptions.apiEndpoint}`,
    rejectUnauthorized: openhimOptions.rejectUnauthorized,
    headers: headers,
    body: SampleData,
    json: true
  }

  request(options, (error, response, body) => {
    if (error) throw new Error(error)

    console.log({
      statusCode: response.statusCode,
      body
    })
  })
})()

Execute the below command in your terminal to run the nodejs script

node openhim-api.js

Ensure that you have created your bash script to construct the HTTP authentication headers and send the request to the OpenHIM API as described in the authentication section.

To create a user, you first need to generate a password hash and salt. The script below can be used for this

# gen-user-password.sh

#!/bin/bash
if (( $# < 1)); then
    echo "OpenHIM User Password: Curl wrapper that generates the user Password details";
    echo "Usage: $0 PASSWORD";
    exit 0;
fi
pass=$1;
shift;
shift;

salt=`cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'abcdef0-9' | fold -w 32 | head -n 1`;
passhash=`echo -n "$pass$salt" | shasum -a 512 | awk '{print $1}'`;

echo Password Salt: $salt
echo Password Hash: $passhash

echo "";

Copy and execute the bash script above with the below command. Substitute the <USER_PASSWORD> with your desired password before executing.

./gen-user-password.sh <USER_PASSWORD>

Execute the below command in your terminal where the file is located with the required arguments to create the user. Replace the placeholder arguments with the correct implementation details and ensure your SampleData.json file exists with the user object. Add the generated passwordHash and passwordSalt to the SampleData.json before executing the command.

./openhim-api.sh [email protected] openhim-password -v https://localhost:8080/users -d @SampleData.json -H "Content-Type:application/json"

The response status will be 201 if successful.

Once created, a user's activation email is sent to the users email. For this email to be sent, the OpenHIM needs to be configured with the correct mail settings. This can be done in the configuration