Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries useApplication Default Credentialsto authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing theUnifiedCredentialsOptionThe following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file:
[](std::string const& keyfile) {
auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);
is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples
auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(is.rdbuf()), {});
auto options =
google::cloud::Options{}.set<google::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption>(
google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));
return google::cloud::dataplex_v1::CatalogServiceClient(
google::cloud::dataplex_v1::MakeCatalogServiceConnection(options));
}
Follow these links to find examples for other*Clientclasses:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-04 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis page documents how to override the default authentication credentials used by the client libraries when interacting with Google Cloud Services, which typically rely on Application Default Credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default credentials by utilizing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, as demonstrated in the provided example that shows how to explicitly load a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version is 2.37.0-rc, and there are listed documentation links for a number of prior versions going all the way back to version 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe listed links direct to examples of how to override authentication for several \u003ccode\u003e*Client\u003c/code\u003e classes within the \u003ccode\u003edataplex_v1\u003c/code\u003e namespace, including \u003ccode\u003eCatalogServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eContentServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eDataScanServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, among others.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more details on managing service account keys or creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, consult the linked best practices guide and authentication components documentation, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.30.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/latest/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.41.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.40.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.39.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.38.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.37.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.36.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.35.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.34.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.33.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.32.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.31.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.29.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.28.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.27.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.26.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.25.1/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.24.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.23.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.22.1/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.21.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.20.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.19.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.18.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.17.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.16.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.15.1/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.14.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.13.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.12.0/dataplex-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.11.0/dataplex-override-authentication) \n\nHow to Override the Authentication Credentials\n==============================================\n\nUnless otherwise configured, the client libraries use [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication#adc) to authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing the [UnifiedCredentialsOption](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/structgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1UnifiedCredentialsOption.html) The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file: \n\n [](std::string const& keyfile) {\n auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);\n is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples\n auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator\u003cchar\u003e(is.rdbuf()), {});\n auto options =\n google::cloud::Options{}.set\u003cgoogle::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption\u003e(\n google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));\n return google::cloud::dataplex_v1::CatalogServiceClient(\n google::cloud::dataplex_v1::MakeCatalogServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`dataplex_v1::CatalogServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex_v1_1_1CatalogServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`dataplex_v1::ContentServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex_v1_1_1ContentServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`dataplex_v1::DataScanServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex_v1_1_1DataScanServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`dataplex_v1::DataTaxonomyServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex_v1_1_1DataTaxonomyServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`dataplex_v1::DataplexServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex_v1_1_1DataplexServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`dataplex_v1::MetadataServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/dataplex/2.30.0/dataplex_v1_1_1MetadataServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n\nKeep in mind that we chose this as an example because it is relatively easy to understand. Consult the [Best practices for managing service account keys](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys) guide for more details.\n\n###### See Also\n\n[Authentication Components](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html) - for more information on the factory functions to create [`google::cloud::Credentials`](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html) objects."]]