basecamp-proxy

basecamp-proxy

This tools connects to the Basecamp 3 API and opens a TCP port so another tool can connect to it. Communication with the proxy is done with JSON.

Usage

You first need to install the proxy's dependencies:

yarn

Start the proxy:

$ ./bin/basecamp-proxy 2222 23483270
Basecamp proxy listening on 2222

The first number is the TCP port to open. The second number is the account id: this is the first number appearing after basecamp.com in the URL when you are on the basecamp website.

While this is running, open another shell and start a TCP connection:

$ telnet localhost 2222
Trying ::1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

You then have to give access to your Basecamp account. This is done through OAUTH. If you already have a client id and secret, skip the next section. Otherwise, keep reading.

Obtaining a client id and secret

Login to https://basecamp.com/ and register an application at https://launchpad.37signals.com/integrations. You can use whatever values you want but you should at least:

• check "Basecamp 3" in the "Products" section;
• set a redirect URI as "http://localhost:9321". You can use a different port but it must differ from the TCP port passed to the proxy above (i.e., "2222").

You'll be assigned a client id and secret. Save that somewhere so you can skip this step next time.

Authenticating

You have a client id and secret. You are now ready to send your first query to the proxy. Go back to the telnet session opened above and type the following:

{"id":1, "type":"meta", "action":"generate_auth_token", "client_id":"xxxxxxxxxx", "client_secret":"yyyyyyyyyy", "port":9321}

Replace the client id and secret with the values obtained above. The port specified here is the one saved as redirect URI above (9321 being the default, you don't have to specify it).

This should open a new tab in your favorite web browser. Authorize the access and you should now get an answer in the telnet session:

{"id":1,"type":"success","payload":{}}

This indicates that the proxy is now successfully connected to Basecamp 3 API. Congratulations.

Querying Basecamp

To get a list of all Basecamp projects, type this in the telnet session:

{"id":2, "type":"projects","action":"find"}

You can pass any value for the id property and the proxy will send the value back in the response. This can be used to match responses to queries if several queries are sent in parallel.

As response to this query, the proxy will send a payload containing an array of projects.