Canvas Developer Guide

Getting Started
Using Canvas
Canvas SDK
Referencing the Canvas SDK
Authentication
Getting Context in Your Canvas App
Cross-Domain XHR
Alternatives to Cookies for User Tracking
Resizing a Canvas App
Implementing Canvas App Events
Using Streaming API in a Canvas App
Debugging in a Canvas App
Using the <select> Tag in a Canvas App
Canvas Apps and Visualforce Pages
Lightning Component Code Examples
Canvas Apps in a Page Layout or a Mobile Card
Canvas Apps in the Publisher
Canvas Apps in the Chatter Feed
Canvas in the Salesforce Mobile App
Customizing Your App Lifecycle
Reference
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Getting Context in Your Canvas App

When you authenticate your canvas app using signed request, you get the CanvasRequest object (which contains the Context object) as part of the POST to the canvas app URL. If you’re authenticating using OAuth, or you want to make a call to get context information, you can do so by making a JavaScript call.

Getting context data from the Canvas SDK is the most reliable way to identify users. Browsers may not send your canvas app cookies or other identifying data. See Alternatives to Cookies for User Tracking.

Note

The following code sample is an example of a JavaScript call to get context. This code creates a link with the text “Get Context” which then calls the Sfdc.canvas.client.ctx function.