Build a Simple React Application Using Hooks
If you have been developing React applications, then you probably know that there are two ways of creating React components. You can create a component class that extends from React.Component. You then have to implement specific methods such as render() that renders the component. The alternative is to create a functional component. This type of component is simply a JavaScript function that returns a rendered element. Functional components are much shorter, they contain less boilerplate...
Super Simple GraphQL Tutorial with C#
In today’s connected world, APIs are becoming an essential part of software and hardware companies. APIs allow companies to expose their services to third-party developers and integrate with other services. As more and more APIs are built and exposed to the internet, it is essential to secure them from unauthorized access. In this tutorial, you will learn how to build an ASP.NET Core 3.1 Web API using GraphQL and secure it with Okta. ASP.NET Core...
Identity Security for Games in C# with Unity
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies. The engine is able to create three-dimensional, two-dimensional, virtual reality, and augmented reality games, as well as simulations and other experiences. The engine has been adopted by industries outside video gaming such as film, automotive, architecture, engineering, and construction. Identity security is a key concept that is mostly missing in Unity. In fact, most engines today do not provide solutions for securing identity, authenticating users,...
How to Use CSS Grid to Build a Responsive React App
Do you remember the days when people used tables to arrange content on websites? HTML tables were ideal for arranging content in a grid-style layout. But they had a serious problem. They mixed content with style, prohibited semantic markup, and made it hard for screen readers to sort the information in a meaningful way. After dropping the use of tables, the first solution was to use the CSS float to position elements on a web...
Build a Secure Micronaut and Angular App with JHipster
Micronaut is a new framework for developing JVM applications, including APIs and microservices. It uses ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation to compute the information that your application needs before runtime, removing the need for reflection. The result is a significant decrease in runtime overhead and startup time, and a substantial increase in application throughput. Micronaut is a direct competitor to Spring Boot from the folks that invented Grails. Its design and runtime efficiency make it ideal for...
OAuth 2.0 Patterns with Spring Cloud Gateway
Note: In May 2025, the Okta Integrator Free Plan replaced Okta Developer Edition Accounts, and the Okta CLI was deprecated. We preserved this post for reference, but the instructions no longer work exactly as written. Replace the Okta CLI commands by manually configuring Okta following the instructions in our Developer Documentation. Spring Cloud Gateway is the Reactive API Gateway of the Spring Ecosystem, built on Spring Boot, WebFlux, and Project Reactor. Its job is to...
JWT vs Opaque Access Tokens: Use Both With Spring Boot
The topic of validating an OAuth 2.0 access tokens comes up frequently on this blog. Often we talk about how to validate JSON Web Token (JWT) based access tokens; however, this is NOT part of the OAuth 2.0 specification. JWTs are so commonly used that Spring Security supported them before adding support for remotely validating tokens (which is part of the OAuth 2.0 specification.) In this post, you will build a simple application that takes...
Arm Up Your Java: Performance Benchmarks
Arm processors have been in the news lately, and it’s causing confusion and worries about processor performance for some folks. After Apple announced its plan to switch to Arm-based processors, I heard people (incorrectly!) speculating the performance would be similar to a Raspberry Pi. Java on Arm is nothing new, but we are seeing increased Arm investment from cloud vendors. Amazon recently updated its Arm offerings, and Microsoft is working on porting the JVM to...
Announcing the New Okta Developer Certification
Over the past few months, I have been working on a side project that I am really excited about. If you know me well, you probably know I enjoy using my side projects to help other teams meet their goals (and if you don’t, I am a Senior Security H@X0R at Okta. Check out my blog posts here.) So, when the Okta certification team asked me to help them build a cool developer certification experience,...
Easy Xamarin Essentials with Web Authenticator
Authentication is an important part of today’s mobile applications, but securely implementing authentication in a mobile app can be a daunting task. In this article, you will learn how to create a basic cross-platform application with Xamarin.Forms and use the WebAuthenticator class from Xamarin.Essentials together with Okta to quickly and easily add user login to your mobile app. To continue you will need: A basic knowledge of C# Visual Studio 2019 An Okta Developer Account...