HTTP & Authentication

HTTP & Authentication

Webpage Signage Runner goes beyond standard browser kiosks by offering enterprise-grade HTTP request orchestration per display. This allows signage screens to authenticate against protected APIs, microservices, internal dashboards, and dynamic content feeds.

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🚀 Supported HTTP Request Methods

For each display configured in Webpage Signage Runner, you can define the HTTP method used when loading and reloading the URL:

• GET (Default): Standard web page retrieval. Custom headers can be attached (e.g. for proxy authentication or API gateway routing).
• POST: Sends an initial POST request with headers and a request body payload. Perfect for endpoints that return HTML views based on station parameters or dynamic tokens.
• PUT: Sends an initial PUT request with payload data.

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🔐 Custom HTTP Headers

Custom headers are attached to all renderer navigation requests using Electron's webContents.loadURL(url, { extraHeaders, postData }) API.

Common Header Use Cases

1. Bearer Token Authentication (OAuth / JWT)

Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

2. API Key Authentication

X-Api-Key: signage-secret-key-9988-aabb

3. Custom Station Identifiers

X-Kiosk-Id: lobby-station-01
X-Location-Code: US-NYC-HQ

4. JSON Content-Type for POST/PUT requests

Content-Type: application/json
Accept: text/html, application/json

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📦 Request Body Payloads (POST & PUT)

When configuring a display with POST or PUT, you can provide a raw body string (JSON, XML, or form-urlencoded).

Example JSON Payload:

{
  "stationId": 101,
  "department": "Operations",
  "kioskMode": true,
  "theme": "dark",
  "refreshSeconds": 300
}

When Webpage Signage Runner loads the screen, it buffers this payload into an UploadRawData stream and dispatches the request to the target server.

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⚙️ Configuration Example (config.json)

Here is an example configuring two screens with different HTTP parameters:

{
  "displays": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "label": "Public Video Feed (GET)",
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com",
      "httpMethod": "GET",
      "reloadIntervalMinutes": 60,
      "hideCursor": true,
      "zoomFactor": 1.0,
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "label": "Internal Metrics Feed (POST)",
      "url": "https://dashboard.internal.company.com/kiosk-feed",
      "httpMethod": "POST",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer eyJhbGciOi...",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "X-Station-ID": "display-2-operations"
      },
      "requestBody": "{\"kiosk\": true, \"view\": \"wallboard\"}",
      "reloadIntervalMinutes": 120,
      "retryIntervalSeconds": 15,
      "hideCursor": true,
      "zoomFactor": 1.25,
      "enabled": true
    }
  ]
}

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🌐 Dynamic URL & Header Updates via REST API

You can update a screen's target URL, HTTP method, headers, or body remotely without restarting the app:

Endpoint: POST /api/displays/:id/url

Request Body:

{
  "url": "https://emergency-broadcast.company.com",
  "httpMethod": "GET",
  "headers": {
    "Authorization": "Bearer alert-token-12345"
  },
  "persist": false
}

• persist: false: Temporarily shifts the display to the emergency broadcast. Upon reboot, it returns to the original URL in config.json.
• persist: true: Writes the new URL and headers to config.json permanently.