Last week we launched Ask SQLTeam as an alternative to our forums. One of the interesting features of the site is that it uses OpenID as a login mechanism. Google and Yahoo both support OpenID and you can use them to login. What I really wanted was a way to login using a SQLTeam.com username and password. So I had to make SQLTeam.com an OpenID provider.
When you get to the main login screen just enter “http://openid.sqlteam.com” in the text box.
After clicking the Login button you’ll be taken to the SQLTeam OpenID page. Here you login using your SQLTeam.com forum username and password.
After you login you’re asked to confirm that you want to proceed and login using this OpenID.
After you click “yes” you’ll be taken back to Ask SQLTeam and given the option to create a new user. (See below if you already have an Ask SQLTeam account.) After clicking “Create New User” you’ll be taken back to the home page. Don’t forget to update your profile with your Display Name.
If you already have an Ask SQLTeam account you can still use your SQLTeam.com OpenID with your account. The site supports each account having two OpenIDs associated with each account. On your profile page, just look for the “new login” link. It will walk you through the steps above. After that you can login using either OpenID.
Strongly worded disclaimer: Please be aware that this is beta software. I haven’t tested it as extensively as I’d like. I also designed this specifically to work between the two sites on the SQLTeam.com domain. Using this as an Internet wide OpenID isn’t supported and may be actively prevented at some point in the future. My choice of URL isn’t ideal to support OpenID across the Internet. This feature is designed solely to allow existing forums users to easily try out Ask SQLTeam.com.
That all said, give it a try. It seems to work well and I’m happy with the growth in Ask SQLTeam so far.