[Feature Request] Bind Login to Application

Haravikk

Okay, so I know that automatic logins for applications is a tricky business since they don't all use a standard method.



However, one thing that might be good would be if I could somehow associate a login entry with a particular application, so that when 1Password detects this application is running then it will automatically switch to that login. In particular I find that pretty every MMO subscribes to the backward notion that saving my password is bad, which means I have to enter every time I sign in. However, since I like to use 1Password for generating my passwords this means bouncing into 1Password, finding the login entry, and copying the password.



The feature would ideally notice that a given application is running (or was recently opened) and switch to the appropriate login entry automatically, so when I switch to, or open, 1Password it will be displaying the correct login entry for me to use.





For example, say I associate a login with Steam.app. I open Steam, it asks me to login (sometimes it just forgets me, what's with that?), so I open 1Password. While it's opening 1Password detects Steam.app is running, and so once I've unlocked it (or just after I've unlocked it) it will display my login entry associated with Steam.app.





I think it should help to add that little extra ease of use for applications, since most have no integration with 1Password at all, in fact I'm not sure if there's a 1Password API or such they could even opt into?

khad

I think that is a very interesting suggestion. I was just discussing app integration in OS X with someone earlier today. It is trickier for an app like 1Password than for an app like TextExpander since [url="http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#technotes/tn2150/_index.html"]Secure Input[/url] means that TextExpander doesn't work in exactly the places you would want 1Password to work: password fields. So we can't just fill password directly like TextExpander expands snippets.



What might work is to listen for the Command-\ keyboard shortcut and have a way to associate it with apps. If you associate your Steam Login item with Steam.app, then pressing Command-\ could copy the Steam password to the clipboard with perhaps an OS X notification popup (or similar) to confirm that is has been copied. Then you just need to paste into the password field. If 1Password is locked, 1Password would just open or come to the foreground if it is already running and prompt for your master password before copying the password.



I don't see it as posing any security issues — as a 1Password API would — since it would be the same as manually switching to 1Password and copying the password to the clipboard just in a single keyboard shortcut. And, of course, the clipboard would still be cleared in accordance with your "Clear values copied to clipboard after [[i]x[/i]] seconds" setting (Preference > Security).



I really like this idea. I can't promise anything. (I really mean that. I'm not one of the developers.) But you can be sure I'll be advocating for something like this to the developers. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Haravikk

[quote name='khad' timestamp='1357790495' post='67034']If you associate your Steam Login item with Steam.app, then pressing Command-\ could copy the Steam password to the clipboard with perhaps an OS X notification popup (or similar) to confirm that is has been copied.[/quote]

Ah, that could certainly take things further, as it would mean you wouldn't even need to go into the 1Password app itself which could be interesting; it would just need a helper daemon (which I think 1Password already uses for browser integration?). Hmm, in that case I wonder if it'd be possible for 1Password to do an "auto-type"; e.g - if you have the password field of a program selected, then 1Password would simulate your having typed the password into it? It's not something I've ever investigated so it could be fiendishly complicated, but if it's easy enough to do then it could remove the extra step of having to paste. Though I'd probably use a separate keyboard shortcut that is specifically a "paste into" command, to avoid users accidentally spewing passwords into readable text fields <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />



Basically if your Steam password was "password" (the height of security) then all you would need to do is select the password field, hit the shortcut, and 1Password would "type" the letters of "password", which should thereby enter them into the field without 1Password needing to know anything about the program at all.



Some common app-profiles could be handy for instant integration, could even use an anonymised web-service to collect data, since all you should need to know is the URL specified for a login, and the app that the user chose to associate it with. So in the example my login is for the URL steampowered.com, which I suspect most users Steam logins would be stored as.

khad

[quote](which I think 1Password already uses for browser integration?)[/quote]

Yep.



[quote]Hmm, in that case I wonder if it'd be possible for 1Password to do an "auto-type"; e.g - if you have the password field of a program selected, then 1Password would simulate your having typed the password into it?[/quote]

That's exactly what I believed Secure Input prevented (mentioned above), but after talking to the devs I think that it may not prevent it after all. We just can't do it in an App Store app.



1Password for Windows already has [url="http://help.agilebits.com/1Password_Windows/auto-type.html"]Auto-Type[/url], but things are different in OS X. It's definitely on our radar. I just can't promise anything specific. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />