Using oauth2.0 tokens with R's httr package

Question

Problem

The package httr provides CURL wrappers in R (see package documentation).

I\'m brand new to HTTP and APIs. My trouble is getting oauth2.

Answer 1

Solution

In this particular use case—working with the Canvas API—additional information is required in the header of the request.

Using the GET function from the httr R package, use the add_header parameter to supply the argument including your oauth2 key.

Use Option 1 if you don't want to hard code your key into the request (recommended). Or, use Option 2 and insert the key as a string. But in both cases, "Bearer " precedes the key.

# Set Up
url = "https://canvas.{institution}.edu/api/v1/courses"
key = "{secret_key}"

# OPTION 1
GET(url, add_headers(Authorization = paste("Bearer", key, sep = " ")))

# OPTION 2
courses.request = GET(url, add_headers(Authorization = "Bearer {secret_key}"))

#Further Explanations

• Explanation of Authorization Header
• Rationale for why "Bearer " must go before the key.
• The OAuth Bible is useful for understanding components of a request

Can anyone else explain other reasons why the OP's examples didn't work?