Handling Complex Problems with Advanced Capabilities Series — Single SignON
Single Sign-On is an authentication approach that enables users to securely access multiple applications and websites by logging in just once. Instead of requiring users to enter their credentials (username and password) multiple times to access different applications, SSO provides a centralized authentication service that verifies the user’s identity and grants access to the authorized applications. With Playwright, we can streamline the SSO workflows effortlessly. By leveraging its capabilities to automate end-to-end scenarios, we can simulate user interactions across different applications, validate authentication flows, and ensure seamless integration of SSO functionalities.
Challenges faced while automating a SSO enabled application:
Handling Session Management:
- SSO authentication typically involves maintaining user sessions across multiple applications or services.
- Automating the session management, including handling cookies, tokens, or other session-related artifacts, can be complex and requires careful implementation.
Dealing with Time-Sensitive Tokens:
- SSO often utilizes time-sensitive tokens, such as access tokens or session tokens, which have a limited lifespan.
- Automating the token management, including refreshing or renewing tokens when they expire, can be a challenge to ensure the seamless execution of the automation scripts.
Debugging and Troubleshooting:
- Debugging SSO-related issues can be more complex, as the authentication flow may involve multiple systems and components, making it difficult to identify the root cause of any problems.
- Effective logging, error handling, and troubleshooting strategies are essential to overcome these challenges.
Compatibility and Integration Challenges:
- SSO implementations can vary across different applications, platforms, and identity providers, leading to compatibility issues and the need for custom integrations.
- Ensuring that the automation scripts work seamlessly across different SSO setups can be a significant challenge.
Handling SSO enabled application through playwright:
In the below screenshot, we have created a auth.setup file to login to the application and storing the state in authFile.
This stored state is further utilised by mentioning it under the project as highlighted below in playwright.config file. This storage state will be utilised whenever we are running the project.
Benefits
- Browser contexts: Isolated browser environments for each test and prevents cookie/storage conflicts between different SSO test cases
- Built-in authentication handling: Methods like
context.storageState()to save/load auth state and simplifies reusing SSO sessions across tests - Headless and headed mode: Run SSO tests invisibly for CI/CD or visibly for debugging
- Tracing: Built-in tracing to record test execution including screenshots/videos and helpful for troubleshooting failed SSO attempts
- Mobile emulation: Can emulate mobile devices to test SSO flows on mobile web
Conclusion
In addressing the complexities of Single Sign-On (SSO) automation, Playwright emerges as a powerful tool that simplifies and streamlines the process. By automating end-to-end scenarios and managing session-related challenges, Playwright ensures efficient SSO workflows. Despite hurdles like session management, time-sensitive tokens, and compatibility issues, Playwright’s advanced features — such as isolated browser contexts, built-in authentication handling, and comprehensive tracing — provide robust solutions. Its flexibility in running tests both heedlessly and visibly, along with mobile emulation capabilities, makes Playwright an invaluable asset for seamlessly integrating and validating SSO functionalities across diverse applications and environments.
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