How to get secureJsonData - plugins

Question

I’m developing an application plugin.
In my understanding, when we try to get a credential from secureJsonData, we need to use data source proxy.
So my questions are:
Do I need to include a data source plugin to use the data source proxy?
According to the documentation, I have to add proxy route configurations in plugin.json file. But how is the routes / url determined?
Thanks,

Answer 1

Do I need to include a data source plugin to use the data source proxy?
You can use secureJsonData credentials in an app route without creating a data source plugin. Routes can be called from any page in your app. It works the same as routes for data source plugins but a plugin proxy module inside Grafana does the work instead of the data source proxy.
But how is the routes / url determined?
The routes are determined by you. You define the url to the backend you want to call to.
Here is an example of a route from the Synthetic Monitoring App:
"routes": [
{
"path": "install",
"method": "*",
"url": "{{ .JsonData.apiHost }}/api/v1/register/install",
"reqRole": "Editor",
"headers": [
{
"name": "Authorization",
"content": "Bearer {{ .SecureJsonData.publisherToken }}"
}
]
}
The path field is the name of the route that you use in your code.
The url field is an external url that the app can call to. When the route is called then the secureJsonData in the headers section is decrypted on the Grafana backend (in the plugin proxy) and added to the headers of the HTTP call.
You control when the call to the route is made in your code (example from the same app):
const { accessToken } = await getBackendSrv().request({
url: `api/plugin-proxy/${meta.id}/install`,
method: 'POST',
data: body,
});
The install path part of the route will be translated into the route url defined in the plugin json by the plugin proxy.