Continuing from my last blog post for my CS-448 class, Sprint 2 has just finished. This Sprint I was assigned the issues of creating the code that mimics what the Guest Info system would handle (https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/reportingsystem/reportingbackend/-/issues/94) in putting guest info into RabbitMQ and the issue to take the data from RabbitMQ and put it into the database (https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/reportingsystem/reportingbackend/-/issues/96).

For what worked well this sprint, we as a team worked well and as we had planned to. On the backend, setting up the queue to put data into RabbitMQ was easy enough to do after reading the documentation on how the queues work which is what I wanted to improve last sprint so that I didn’t feel like I was unaware of how the systems worked. After that we started to set up the code that would take the data from RabbitMQ and put it into the database. The RabbitMQ for this part went as smoothly as the queue did, but when entering the data into the mongo database is where we ran into issues. The location of the data insert was in the dev container and so it was unable to connect to the database which is where I was stuck for most of the sprint. Another problem was that it wasn’t immediately obvious that the database connection was the problem which led me to looking for errors in places that there likely were none.

I think that for the next sprint a way to improve as a team would be two things. One would be to not assume that just because code exists for it, it doesn’t mean that it works in the context you need it to, and the other is that we should be more open to solutions to problems that may include adding entire new functionality that we didn’t specify was needed in planning but is needed to support another integral system. Individually I would want to improve by thinking harder about where my problems are and how they might affect things afterwards. I found that when I do ask questions about a particular hold up, after I solve that part, it leaves me in a place where I don’t have a direction because I didn’t think ahead after the roadblock. I have found that this really slows down my productivity and is overall an inefficient workflow.

This sprint, I think the apprenticeship pattern that is most applicable is the fifth pattern, perpetual learning. This is because this sprint I was learning new things about building a system, like the reporting system for Thea’s Pantry, only when there was an issue I was trying to fix, instead of always taking time to just learn whatever I can to build a base of knowledge that will help me when I come upon issues so I will already know what is going on. I also want to ask around for help from people who may know more about a certain system or function than me, including my group and the other groups.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science Blog by dzona1 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this post, I’ll be reflecting on our second sprint towards developing and implementing an Identity and Access Management system for Thea’s Pantry. Coming out of Sprint 1, we had a better idea of Keycloak in general, and we had some basic frameworks for a fake frontend and fake backend. Our sprint goal for Sprint 2 was to fully integrate these components, so that we could provide a proof of concept for the entire workflow, as opposed to just one component. We wanted to be able to force authentication on a frontend page via a Keycloak login page, and then we wanted to be able to store the resultant access token from that interaction so that we can perform authenticated actions without ever talking to Keycloak again.

Some of my personal work towards that goal was as follows:

GitLab

• Documenting our low-level issues in GitLab and assigning them accordingly. I put additional focus/effort this sprint into properly linking related issues, blockers, and tracking various key information in comments, as opposed to just using issues as a task list. Epic

Backend

• Refactor the backend endpoint to verify the signature of a JWT to ensure authenticity. Note – this was a great learning experience in better understanding how async and await work in JS. This issue took me way too long to resolve. Squash Commit

• Further briefly modify the endpoint to pull specific custom data out of the generated JWT from Keycloak. Commit

Frontend

• Configure Docker compose files and Git submodules to containerize all three repositories into the fake frontend to test the whole flow. Commit

• Completely facelift/refactor/rework/reimplement the fake frontend to use Vue as a build framework to test our implementation in the same context as it will be used in production. Configure dependency and instantiation of Keycloak in the JS to handle redirect and access token storage and usage. Commits: 1 , 2

Something that worked particularly well this sprint was our focus on increased communication. We refactored our working agreement to address some of our shortcomings in communication and accountability, and I felt like this sprint was better for us around the board. We had a bit more direction this sprint, and we accomplished our goal exactly as we laid it out, barring 2 lines of code that we have to add that are just blocked right now.

That said, – at risk of contradicting myself – I feel like something that did not work as well, and that we can continue to improve, is also our communication. Though it was better this sprint, it still definitely felt at times like we were not a team, and instead like we each had our tasks that we would connect on once or twice a week in class meetings. Maybe this is fine, and to be honest it worked okay for the most part, but I feel like in an ideal world for me, I would have us all being very proactive and communicative about our issues, though I don’t know if this is a fair thing to aim for our team to improve, or if maybe I should reevaluate my expectations.

Something I could improve is my focus on defining roles and responsibilities for the general team dynamic, not just for issues. I felt like I focused on accountability for issues on GitLab, for example, but I also feel like I informally assumed the role of Scrum Master / Sprint Lead for this sprint, though we never really defined or said that. It seemed to work fine for us, but it is something I think I could have specified better, instead of just sort of assuming a leadership role.

The pattern I have chosen for this sprint is The Deep End. This is because one of the issues I spent the most time on during this sprint was implementing JWT signature verification. This should not have been a difficult issue, but I really have never worked with functions in js specifically, and for some reason I was caught in a loop of bad syntax and usage of things like const, async, and await. I had no idea what I was doing, and was so lost as to why my code was not working. It took a lot of reading and being lost for a while before finally realizing my error was not the libraries I was using, but just a lack of understanding regarding js. 

From the blog Mr. Lancer 987's Blog by Mr. Lancer 987 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.