Binding (EPD)
The use of the electronic patient record requires the use of Artifact Binding. This is a security requirement of the EPD. The SAML assertion is never transmitted via the user’s browser — only an opaque Artifact (a short-lived reference) is. The actual assertion is exchanged exclusively via a direct back-channel (SOAP) between the application provider and the IDP.
The permitted bindings can be found at any time in the automatically updated metadata.
AuthnRequest Binding
The following bindings are supported for transmitting the AuthnRequest to the IDP:
| Binding | Description |
|---|---|
| HTTP-POST | The AuthnRequest is transmitted as a Base64-encoded XHTML form via POST to the IDP. |
| HTTP-Redirect | The AuthnRequest is transmitted as a URL parameter (deflate-compressed and Base64-encoded) via GET redirect to the IDP. |
Artifact Resolution Binding
The resolution of the artifact is performed via SOAP over HTTP directly between the application provider and the IDP (without involvement of the browser). The application provider sends a signed ArtifactResolve request to the Artifact Resolution endpoint as specified in the SAML metadata.
The IDP responds synchronously with an ArtifactResponse containing the signed SAML assertion.