How to use cartodb.js with API key for privacy of data

Question

I would like to use cartodb.js in my web page reproduce a visualization that I created at CartoDB. But I want to keep private my visualization and data at CartoDB (and I am going to secure my web page).

Is there a way to use the APIs in cartodb.js with my CartoDB API key somehow to reproduce in my web page the private visualization that I see on my CartoDB site?

I've been studying the documentation, examples, and source code for cartodb.js. As far as I can tell, cartodb.js does not really provide for use of my API key, but perhaps I am missing something.

Answer 1

Take a look at this example I wrote a while back,

https://github.com/andrewxhill/cartodb-examples/blob/gh-pages/private-maps/index.html

It would present you with a form where you drop your api-key and it will create the map. You can use it as a starting point if you just want to write your api_key directly into the file.

The way to do it in the library is to create a layer with extra_params,

cartodb.createLayer(map, {
    type: 'cartodb',
    user_name: user,
    sublayers: [layer1, layer2],
    extra_params: {
      map_key: key
    }
}) 

We are also going to be released a new tier of privacy for maps in the coming weeks. It will allow you to publish maps from private data.