Build Your Own Invoicing Service with Node, Coinbase, Bitcoin, and Okta
I got into Bitcoin back in 2011. Since then, I’ve been a fan of cryptocurrencies and have always had an interest in them. I’ve also built several Bitcoin projects over the years (an information website, an ecommerce site, and several others) to help promote the usage of the cryptocurrency (while having some fun). The idea of being able to send and receive money almost instantly from anywhere in the world with no middleman is really...
Use Okta (Instead of Local Storage) to Store Your User's Data Securely
Local Storage is a JavaScript API technically known as localStorage that arrived with HTML5. It allows you to store information on a user’s browser quickly and easily. There are many debates on the web as to whether it’s better than cookies. Some say it’s faster (because it doesn’t send data with every request like cookies do) and more secure. Whether it’s more secure or not is debatable, especially when compared with secure cookies that have...
Protect Your Cryptocurrency Wealth Tracking PWA with Okta
Cryptocurrencies are all the rage. Over the last year, the value of Bitcoin alone has risen 1,603%, driving more and more people to wonder if they’re missing out on the “next big thing.” Because of the massive influx of money into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, and Ripple — blockchain technology (which is the foundation of all cryptocurrency) has become an area of intense technical study. At its core, blockchain technology does nothing more than...
Two Approaches to Setting Up a MERN Stack Application
The trend I’ve seen in web applications is a backend API written in a server-side technology like Node, with a front-end single-page application written in something like React. The problem with these stacks is that it can be hard to run and deploy them as a single unit. The API and UI will need to be started, stopped and deployed separately. That can be a bit of a pain when developing, and if you are...
Add Single Sign-On to Your Vert.x Server with Okta
Vert.x has continued to gain traction as a contender to the Spring ecosystem, largely due to improved performance and its polyglot accessibility. Fortunately, securing a Vert.x server with industry-leading authentication and authorization is almost as quick and easy as it is in Spring! In just a few minutes, you can have secure single sign-on guarding your server and giving you access to a wealth of information about your users. This tutorial will walk you through...
Build an App for iOS and Android with Xamarin
Xamarin is a cross-platform technology that makes it possible to build native applications for Android and iOS using a single, shared codebase. Like other technologies such as React Native and NativeScript, it allows development teams to spend less time writing code for both platforms. Xamarin is open-source (and free). Under the hood, it uses Mono (a version of the Microsoft .NET runtime), so Xamarin apps are usually written in C#. You can build Xamarin apps...
Spread Serverless Holiday Cheer with Lambda and API Gateway
It’s that time of year again: Christmas music on the radio, festive decorations in the workplace, and a chill in the air. Except in the Southern Hemisphere, where it’s warm and balmy. And on the International Space Station, where the temperature is strictly regulated. But I digress. It’s a season for reconnecting with loved ones, exchanging gifts, and eating delicious food. And, if you’re like me, a little downtime to work on fun projects. Looking...
Get Started with Spring Security 5.0 and OIDC
Spring Security is a powerful and highly customizable authentication and access-control framework. It is the de-facto standard for securing Spring-based applications. I first encountered Spring Security when it was called Acegi Security in 2005. I had implemented standard Java EE in my open source project, AppFuse. Acegi Security offered a lot more, including remember me and password encryption as standard features. I had managed to get “remember me” working with Java EE, but it wasn’t...
Bootiful Development with Spring Boot and React
React has been getting a lot of positive press in the last couple years, making it an appealing frontend option for Java developers! Once you learn how it works, it makes a lot of sense and can be fun to develop with. Not only that, but it’s wicked fast! If you’ve been following me, or if you’ve read this blog for a bit, you might remember my Bootiful Development with Spring Boot and Angular tutorial....
Use Kong Gateway to Centralize Authentication
NOTE: The video and code in this post has just been updated for 2021! A customer once asked me: “Hey – Can Okta integrate with Kong?” My first thought was: “What’s Kong?” A Google result later, I was introduced to the Kong API Gateway – an open-source API Gateway and Microservices management layer. Spoiler alert: You totally can integrate Kong with Okta using its OpenID Connect plugin. Still stuck wondering what an API gateway even...