Build a Command Line Application with Node.js
Command line applications (CLI) are often the core tools for automating tasks, such as deploying production applications, running tests, building reports, migrating data, DevOps, and the list goes on and on. If you find yourself doing the same things over and over again, chances are you can automate those steps with a script and save yourself a lot of time! Node.js is a great solution for writing CLI apps. Node.js itself has built-in libraries for...
Add Authentication and Personalization to VuePress
There are several advantages to using a static site generator such as VuePress. With VuePress, you can focus on writing content using markdown, and the VuePress application generates static HTML files. VuePress also turns your content into a single-page application (SPA), so transitions between pages seem instant and seamless. The generated static files can be cached and distributed across a content delivery network (CDN) for even more performance. For the reader, VuePress creates a great...
Alexa, Sign In Every Time: Voice-Only Authentication Verification in .NET
Authentication for voice, specifically Amazon’s Alexa, has its limitations. The initial Account Linking process Amazon provides for identification works for many scenarios, but it is only done once (signing into the skill via the Alexa mobile app or website), and all subsequent sessions with the skill are linked - no log-in screen presented again. I’ve often been asked what the options are for verifying every time a user engages with an Alexa skill. For example;...
Build Login in Xamarin with Xamarin.Forms
Chuck Norris could easily make a single app run on all of the platforms iOS, Android, and Windows - without any frameworks or tools. Most of the rest of us could probably do with some help. Happily, Xamarin Forms is the perfect tool for the job, and makes it a breeze to create an app! With Xamarin Forms your app will run on all three platforms from a single codebase. Xamarin Forms comes free with...
5 Essential Tips for Building Developer Libraries
As a software developer, it’s your job to know your customers and their use cases well enough to create an elegant and functional solution. This understanding will help you succeed and ultimately enjoy watching them love and use your applications. When building libraries, your clients are other developers just like you, and in addition to providing a functional library that meets their needs, you need to deliver a great experience when using your product. In...
Build a Phone System for Your Company With Twilio, Okta, and JavaScript
If you’ve ever worked for a company with more than a few employees, you’ve probably seen some interesting phone systems. When I used to work at Cisco, everyone was given a dedicated Cisco desk phone that hooked up to a server somewhere in the company and each employee was assigned a unique phone number and extension. I never really liked that setup. It annoyed me that I had this big, clunky desk phone taking up...
7 Ways an OAuth Access Token is like a Hotel Key Card
What do OAuth 2.0 access tokens and hotel key cards have in common? It turns out quite a lot! A hotel key card is essentially a physical counterpart to an OAuth access token. You get a hotel key card by authenticating at the front desk At a hotel, you check in at the front desk, show your ID card, and then you get a key card that you can use to get into your hotel...
What the Heck is Sign In with Apple?
This week at Apple’s developer conference WWDC, Apple announced a new feature, “Sign In with Apple” enabling users to sign in to apps using their Apple ID. This new feature is positioned as a secure and privacy-friendly way for users to create an account in apps. Most iOS and Mac users already have an Apple ID, and this new feature lets them use that Apple ID to sign in to other apps and websites. If...
Store ASP.NET Secrets Securely with Azure KeyVault
Nothing ruins your weekend quite as wholly as getting paged at 2 am on Saturday to tell you that there’s been a data breach at your company. In this post, I’m going to talk about how you can reduce the risk of that happening by keeping secrets out of your source code. By following this guide, you’ll create an ASP.NET Core MVC web application that uses Okta for identity management. Rather than working through a...
Simple Authentication with Spring Security
Authentication is vital to all but the most basic web applications. Who is making the request, wanting data, or wanting to update or delete data? Can you be sure that the request is coming from the stated user or agent? Answering this question with certainty is hard in today’s computer security environment. Fortunately, there is absolutely no reason to reinvent the wheel. Spring Boot with Spring Security is a powerful combination for web application development....