Authenticate/Authorize application to google account without user interaction. i.e. application's google account

Question

So I am creating an application for my google apps domain. It will have its very own google apps account associated with it, from which it can store/retrieve/manipulate data.

The application should use this google account alone and the user should have no indication that it is using a google account. Is there a way to programmatically authenticate my entire application and not prompt the user authenticate/authorize?

Answer 1

I think you are looking for two legged OAUTH .

You can generate a OAUTH token and secret in the control panel of Google Apps and assign the authorized scopes to this token/secret pair. For instance, you can authorize access to the calendar of all users in your Google Apps domain using the token/secret.

You can then programmatically access the calendars of all users.

Because this token/secret is authorized by the Google Apps domain administrator, individual users do not need to grant access anymore. That is why this is called two legged Oauth , whereas three legged Oauth requires user interaction to obtain a token/secret for an individual user.

This question on SO might interest you too.