IBM Watson APIs Java SDK use Watson token authentication fail

Question

I use Watson APIs Java SDK and my Authentication was use function setUsernameAndPassword(username, password), but now I want to use Tokens for authentication.

my "Username and Password" Code

mAssistant = new Assistant("2018-02-16");
mAssistant.setUsernameAndPassword(mUserName, mPassword);
InputData input = new InputData.Builder("Hello").build();
MessageOptions options = new MessageOptions.Builder("{workspaceId}")
                                           .input(input)
                                           .build();
MessageResponse response = mAssistant.message(options).execute();
System.out.println(response);

it work fine.

I ues this method to get my token. curl -X GET --user "{username}:{password}" "https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/authorization/api/v1/token?url=https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/conversation/api"

Tokens for authentication
Method-1

mAssistant = new Assistant("2018-02-16");
Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<>();
map.put("X-Watson-Authorization-Token", "{token_string}");
mAssistant.setDefaultHeaders(map);
mAssistant.setSkipAuthentication(true);
InputData input = new InputData.Builder("Hello").build();
MessageOptions options = new MessageOptions.Builder("{workspaceId}")
                                           .input(input)
                                           .build();
MessageResponse response = mAssistant.message(options).execute();
System.out.println(response);

get the error code

E/WatsonService: POST status: 403, error: Forbidden
com.ibm.watson.developer_cloud.service.exception.ForbiddenException: Forbidden
05-07 16:05:57.720 10392-10476/mvi.rcu W/System.err:     at com.ibm.watson.developer_cloud.service.WatsonService.processServiceCall(WatsonService.java:401)
05-07 16:05:57.720 10392-10476/mvi.rcu W/System.err:     at com.ibm.watson.developer_cloud.service.WatsonService$WatsonServiceCall.execute(WatsonService.java:459)

Method-2

mAssistant = new Assistant("2018-02-16");
IamOptions options = new IamOptions.Builder()
                                   .accessToken(token)
                                   .build();
mAssistant.setIamCredentials(options);
mAssistant.setEndPoint("https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/conversation/api");
// do same ... 
// mAssistant.message(options).execute();
// ...

get error message

W/System.err: com.ibm.watson.developer_cloud.service.exception.UnauthorizedException: Unauthorized: Access is denied due to invalid credentials. Tip: Did you set the Endpoint?
W/System.err:     at com.ibm.watson.developer_cloud.service.WatsonService.processServiceCall(WatsonService.java:398)
W/System.err:     at com.ibm.watson.developer_cloud.service.WatsonService$WatsonServiceCall.execute(WatsonService.java:459)

If I want to use Tokens for authentication by Watson APIs Java SDK, what should I do?

Answer 1

EDIT: The below answer works with the token you got before. However, I just noticed that you called the token API using the https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/conversation/api URL. If you instead get a token with https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/assistant/api, your posted code should work fine.

---

Due to the Conversation -> Assistant rename, there seems to be an issue with authorization using the new name. Therefore, once you get your authorization token, you can use the setEndPoint() method to call the Conversation endpoint, like so:

mAssistant = new Assistant("2018-02-16");
Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<>();
map.put("X-Watson-Authorization-Token", "{token_string}");
mAssistant.setDefaultHeaders(map);
mAssistant.setSkipAuthentication(true);

// change here
mAssistant.setEndPoint("https://gateway.watsonplatform.net/conversation/api");

Assistant is just an alias for Conversation internally so your API calls should work the same.

Alternatively, you could just use the Conversation service directly, although at some point that will go away in favor of just the Assistant service.