Implementing social login and single sign-on (SSO) in Apache Wicket

25 Sep 2023

Apache Wicket is a popular Java-based web framework that allows developers to build scalable and maintainable web applications. In this blog post, we will explore how to implement social login and single sign-on (SSO) in Apache Wicket using the OAuth 2.0 protocol.

Social login allows users to log in to your web application using their existing credentials from popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter. Implementing social login provides a convenient and seamless authentication experience for your users, eliminating the need for them to remember yet another set of login credentials.

On the other hand, SSO enables users to log in to multiple related applications or websites using a single set of credentials. With SSO, once a user has logged in to one application, they can seamlessly access other applications without needing to enter their credentials again. This improves user experience and eliminates the hassle of remembering multiple passwords.

To implement social login in Apache Wicket, we can leverage existing Java libraries that provide OAuth 2.0 client support like Spring Security OAuth or ScribeJava. These libraries simplify the integration process by handling the OAuth flow, token handling, and API bindings.

Here’s an example code snippet using Spring Security OAuth library to implement Facebook social login in Apache Wicket:

// Configuration for Facebook OAuth provider
OAuth2ClientContext clientContext = new DefaultOAuth2ClientContext();
FacebookConnectionFactory connectionFactory = new FacebookConnectionFactory(clientId, clientSecret);
OAuth2Operations oauthOperations = connectionFactory.getOAuthOperations();

// Redirect user to Facebook authorization page
OAuth2Parameters params = new OAuth2Parameters();
params.setRedirectUri(callbackUrl);
params.setScope("email"); // requested user permissions
String authorizeUrl = oauthOperations.buildAuthorizeUrl(GrantType.AUTHORIZATION_CODE, params);
getApplication().getWebResponse().sendRedirect(authorizeUrl);

// Callback handler for the authorization code received from Facebook
String code = getRequest().getParameter("code");
AccessGrant accessGrant = oauthOperations.exchangeForAccess(code, callbackUrl, null);

// Get user information from Facebook API using access token
Connection<Facebook> connection = connectionFactory.createConnection(accessGrant);
Facebook api = connection.getApi();
String userId = api.userOperations().getUserProfile().getId();
String email = api.userOperations().getUserProfile().getEmail();

Implementing SSO

To implement SSO in Apache Wicket, we need to integrate with an identity provider (IdP) or authentication service that supports SSO protocols such as SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) or OpenID Connect. Popular IdPs like Okta, Auth0, or Keycloak provide easy integration options for various programming languages, including Java.

Here’s an example code snippet using Keycloak as the IdP to implement SSO in Apache Wicket:

// Configuration for Keycloak SSO
KeycloakDeployment deployment = KeycloakDeploymentBuilder.build(new File("keycloak.json"));
KeycloakDeploymentContext context = new DefaultKeycloakDeploymentContext(deployment);
BearerTokenAuthenticator authenticator = new BearerTokenAuthenticator(deployment);

// Redirect user to Keycloak login page
String loginUrl = context.getRealmDeployment().getAccountUrl().getUri().toString();
getApplication().getWebResponse().sendRedirect(loginUrl);

// Callback handler for the access token received from Keycloak
String accessToken = getRequest().getParameter("access_token");
BearerTokenCredential credential = new BearerTokenCredential(accessToken);
Authentication authentication = authenticator.authenticate(session, credential);

// Handle successful authentication and user session management
if (authentication instanceof AuthenticatedActionsHandler) {
    AuthenticatedActionsHandler handler = (AuthenticatedActionsHandler) authentication;
    Principal principal = handler.getPrincipal();
    // Store user session or retrieve user information for further processing
}

Conclusion

Implementing social login and SSO in Apache Wicket can greatly enhance user experience and improve authentication security. By leveraging OAuth 2.0 for social login and integrating with an IdP for SSO, developers can provide seamless authentication options for their web applications.

Why implement social login and SSO?

Implementing social login

Implementing SSO

Conclusion