Strategy to Integrate .NET app and Google Apps

More of an architecture / long-term view question.

I'm in the process of putting together a service. I would like to write it in ASP.NET or MVC but I'd also like for it to integrate with the Google Apps engine (so that groups/businesses can add it to their Google Apps domain after purchasing).

I'm aware of how to allow users to login via Google Apps with DotNetOpenAuth, but what should my strategy be for tight integration?

Some sub-questions in the vein of what I'm wondering:

• How do I ensure that users signed into Google Apps can be redirected to my site without having to login again?
• Is it okay to redirect away from Google Apps or should I strive to keep my app within the Google Apps interface? Is there a distinct advantage / disadvantage to one or the other?
• If I want to do bo开发者_运维知识库th and keep the base site in .NET, will I be forced to also code in Java or Python to get it on the app engine? Is it necessary to have it on the app engine?

I know what I want to do from a features standpoint, I just don't want to get started in the wrong direction and want to know my challenges up-front.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

---

Google App Engine is Google's cloud computing offering. Google Apps is Google's SAAS offering. The two are distinct, and though they can interoperate, they're not intrinsically linked.

If you want to be able to list your app on the Apps Marketplace, so businesses can add your app to their Apps domains for use by their users, you don't need to use App Engine. All you need to do is ensure your app supports login with OpenID, and, if you want it to support SSO, follow these directions. If you want your app to access data from other Google Apps apps, details are here.

---

not to take anything away from nick's great answer, which i upvoted, I just wanted to mention the links are out of date now. Anyone stumbling across this these days should go to :

https://developers.google.com/google-apps/app-apis

you can confirm the links are out of date here:

https://developers.google.com/gdata/docs/developers-guide

hope that helps someone

---

If I want to do both and keep the base site in .NET, will I be forced to also code in Java or Python to get it on the app engine? Is it necessary to have it on the app engine?

No, I think you could write it in pure ASP.NET. Not 100% sure on this, but I think so.