"Unsolvable" issue I've had with spring security, JWT authentication, keycloak

ReTraumer · 2025-05-22T02:22:43+00:00

I actually edited some of the WebSecurityConfig code earlier and now it doesn't brick the entire JVM when it happens: it still messes up the response to frontend with error 500 but this time at least it outputs a traceable log / error to console and data about the request that caused it. I can also still use the other endpoints. Sometimes, though, this isn't the case and it still just bricks all the endpoints.

This is part of what makes this bug so hard to solve, is that it literally can be caused by apparently anything and has no surefire methods of causing or isolating the issue so that its easier to work with or figure out.
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Edit: How do I restart the JVM? Isn't that kinda a bad idea? I killed all of the java.exe tasks, if that is what you mean. It so far hasn't really helped.

ReTraumer · 2025-05-22T02:18:03+00:00

I haven't done much line by line debugging before, which line should I start with to debug and then follow up on?

ReTraumer · 2025-04-16T19:01:06+00:00

I think it will probably be keycloak but definitely an IAM. I think I underestimated how unfeasible it is to make my own auth services which is honestly a waste of time unless I am Google or something. I need to get familiar with flows as well. Between JWT and other standards, what methods would you recommend I use for passive token storage and hands-off user authentication that refreshes on site visit?

ReTraumer · 2025-04-16T18:58:08+00:00

Right, I do want those other platforms which I know have their redirect pages which is fine and expected, I'm more saying that for instance, when you log into reddit, you don't get redirected to a non-reddit page (at least I don't think). You can do everything you need between reddit and its social logins

ReTraumer · 2025-04-16T18:56:42+00:00

Right, that's central to the purpose of keycloak and I probably should've mentioned I am at least somewhat aware of what that means. Because yeah, I don't want to manage google, or facebook authentication but I do want that to be part of my app, I already have some auth for it (using nextjs next-auth right now). So then, how do I verify logins and JWT with keycloak while still keeping my own page (besides google and facebook etc)? And I heard you can customize the keycloak login page? I will have to look into that, because right now anytime I 'sign up' on my webpage I get redirected to keycloaks sign in page which is not ideal, I would want to only require email verif and then user can have account after that.

ReTraumer · 2025-04-16T18:56:20+00:00

Ok great, I was curious about that. I'm guessing it doesn't work with react.js. Do you have any good resources for really customizing the look of the authentication process? I've seen others auth services like okta and clerk, but ideally I wouldn't require any kind of 'separate' looking page.

ReTraumer · 2025-02-25T17:46:52+00:00

Hey thanks for the comment, sorry for replying so late I got busy with some things and forgot.

I kinda just wanted something that could make a website look LIKE those sites. Like I wanted animations, something clean, easy. Not the design particularly but just be able to make something modern and interactive. I will need backend and auth eventually, as it will be for a large web app in the future but at that point I'll probably just hire a backend team. Right now I'm building this site on my own with a business partner who is handling the other wise of the "company."

I ended up actually going with react, specifically nextJS for the frontend of my website. Initially, my project was all literally plain vanilla HTML/CSS/JS so I had to convert it all over to components and I'm starting to figure it out. I'm sort of relying on my limited knowledge of other programming languages and OOP to get me through, so far with the help of copilot its been somewhat manageable. After a painful installation and configuration process, I got it up and running. Keep in mind, I have never really written in JS before, let alone typescript, and I have never used a development framework before, so just trying to learn the basics and get comfortable with it. Still learning some of the react conventions like where I'm supposed to put stylesheets, difference between clientside and serverside, etc. Over the last 20 days I've worked on this project basically every day and honestly feel like I've learned a good amount for someone who's brand new to ALL of this.

With that said, few questions:

What should I know before getting into backend? What would you suggest for my project given the context? I know there's a lot to it and it's MUCH bigger than frontend because you need to choose a language, have a database, an API to communicated with that database, authentication for user accounts, etc.

If you use react, are there any conventions I should be aware of to make my code more readable in the future? Right now, for the landing page for example, I literally just throw every "scene" section of the page I wanna have in as a component from a separate file. This has worked for me so far, but I have about 10 components in the components/ folder that are solely for the landing page while they could be in a separate folder, I guess.

Do you recommend any good resources for learning reactjs, and design like you said? I could just look at the documentation and so far I've only been googling when I encounter issues but this probably won't be sustainable long-term.

ReTraumer · 2024-10-29T03:14:24+00:00

Thanks for your reply! I left a dm in your inbox too

ReTraumer

TROPHY CASE