Custom login sequence

This is for:

Developer System Administrator

The default login sequence for Web and Sitemap sources supports various third-party login pages, such as OneLogin, Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft.

The default login sequence also tries to detect and log in to first-party login forms. The login process uses the first <form> element that meets all requirements.

Form requirements for the default login sequence

The form must contain the following elements:

User identity field: A visible <input> element whose id or name attribute value is either user, email, login, id, or name (case-insensitive).

Password field: A visible <input> element whose type attribute value is password (case-insensitive).

Submit element: A visible form submit element. The source looks for the following element types, in this order:

  • An <input> element whose type attribute value is submit or button.

  • A <button> element whose type attribute value is submit.

  • An <a> element whose id attribute value contains the word "submit" (case-insensitive).

The default login sequence uses the first element of each type in the form.

If the web page doesn’t meet the requirements for the default login sequence, or if your form requires specific actions during the login process, you must configure a custom login sequence. Web and Sitemap sources provide an interface that lets administrators build custom form authentication workflows.

Important

Ensure that the default source login sequence fails before you configure a custom login sequence.

There’s no need to set or adjust the form authentication Loading delay when you configure a custom login sequence. Custom login sequences are not affected by the form authentication Loading delay specified in the source configuration.

If you need to interact with Shadow DOM elements, make sure the Wait delay on your first step allows the Shadow DOM to load before the first action on a page is executed. Use the CSS selector element identifier type to target Shadow DOM elements. See element identifier for more details on the CSS selector syntax you must use.

Add login sequence conditions and steps

The default Custom login sequence section configuration is the following:

Screenshot of the custom login sequence interface showing options to define conditions and organize login steps | Coveo

You can:

1 Add conditions that must be met for your custom login sequence to be executed. When these conditions aren’t met, the source will perform the standard Coveo form authentication process.

2 Add a step to the custom login sequence. When no steps are defined, the crawler attempts form authentication without a custom login sequence.

As you add steps, the Login steps section displays the steps you’ve added in the order in which they will be executed.

Edit custom login sequence steps interface | Coveo

At this stage of the custom login sequence configuration process, you can also:

3 Change the order of steps in the custom login sequence by dragging them up or down.

4 Edit a step in the custom login sequence.

5 Remove a step from the custom login sequence.

Add a step

When you add a step to the login sequence, the Add a custom login sequence step panel appears with a default action configuration that remains to be completed.

Edit a new custom login sequence step | Coveo

At this stage, you can:

1 Name the step.

2 Set the wait time in milliseconds before executing the step.

3 Add conditions that must be met for the step to be executed. Use step conditions to handle periodically displayed pop-up windows and visual elements (for example, a "Verify your identity" page).

4 Configure actions in the step.

5 Add an action to the step.

6 Save or cancel your step configuration changes.

Configure an action

A fully defined action configuration has between 2 and 6 parameters, depending on the action type. These parameters are:

Action type

The keyboard or pointer action to perform.

Note

With many action types, the target element must meet certain preconditions before the action is actually attempted. The source first tries to scroll into view the target element, if necessary. Then, the source ensures the element is in view, displayed, and can be interacted with, before executing the action.
Options

  • Click: Simulates a mouse click on an element. For interactability preconditions to be met, the target element must have a height and width greater than 0.

  • JavaScript click: Simulates a mouse click on an element, but it doesn’t check preconditions.

  • Clear: Checks preconditions, and then clears the content of the input element.

  • Type: Checks preconditions, and then types the text specified in the Value field into the target input element. When you select Username in the Element type menu, the source automatically uses the username specified in the form authentication credentials as the Value. When you select Password in the Element type menu, the source automatically uses the password specified in the form authentication credentials as the Value.

  • Press tab: Simulates selecting the Tab key. Press tab can often be used to set the focus on the password input element after filling out the username input element.

  • Press space: Simulates selecting the Space key.

  • Press enter: Simulates selecting the Enter key.

  • Submit form: Checks preconditions, and then performs the action of submitting the form.

    Tip
    Leading practice

    The Click action type is recommended over Submit form.

  • Press key: Simulates selecting a key on the keyboard.

    Tip
    Leading practice

    Use Press tab, Press space, or Press enter instead of Press key when possible.

Wait delay

The time in milliseconds to wait before executing the action.

Element identifier type

The method to use to find the target HTML element.

Options

  • Name: Used to select an element based on its name attribute value.

  • ID: Used to select an element based on its id attribute value.

  • Tag name: Used to select an element based on the tag name.

  • Class name: Used to select an element based on its class attribute value.

  • CSS selector: Used to select an element by specifying a CSS selector.

  • XPath: Used to select an element by specifying an XPath expression.

Element identifier

The value to use to identify the target form element based on the selected Element identifier type. For example, if you select ID as the Element identifier type, specify the id attribute value of the target form element in the Element identifier field.

To interact with Shadow DOM elements, you must use the CSS Selector element identifier type and your element identifier must include the >>shadow custom marker.

Example

Consider the following DOM structure containing a light DOM <div> element to which a Shadow DOM is attached:

- DIV id="host"
  #shadow-root
    - FORM
      - INPUT id="password"

To target the <input> element, you can use the following CSS selector: #host >>shadow #password.

Element type

The type of the form element.

Options

  • Default: Use Default for all non-username, non-password elements used in the login sequence.

  • Username: Used to identify the <input> element in which users enter their username or email address to authenticate with. When used in a Type action, the source automatically types the form authentication username in the <input> element.

  • Password: Used to identify the <input> element in which users enter their password. When used in a Type action, the source automatically types the form authentication password in the <input> element.

Value

The text to type in the input field when the Action Type is Type. When you select Username or Password as the Element type, the source automatically uses the credentials specified in the form authentication login details as the Value.

Manage actions

As you add actions to a step, the Actions section displays the actions you’ve added in the order in which they will be executed.

Manage actions in a custom login sequence step | Coveo

At this stage, you can:

1 Change the order of actions in the step by dragging them up or down.

2 Remove an action from the step.

Custom login sequence limitations

Custom login sequences have the following limitations:

  • They can contain up to five steps.

  • All steps can contain up to ten actions.

  • If more than one step contains a Type action on a Password element, all these steps must be conditional.

  • A step can have no more than one Type action on a Password element.

Example 1: Custom login sequence for a Web source using the Microsoft Online login page

The following example shows a custom login sequence for a source using the Microsoft Online login page. This is for demonstration purposes only, as the standard Coveo form authentication process already handles the Microsoft Online login page.

Note

This example uses Wait delay values to ensure the crawler waits for the input elements to load before executing actions. Consider the time required for your login sequence elements to load and adjust the Wait delay values accordingly.

Custom login sequence conditions and steps

Custom login sequence conditions and steps example | Coveo

Step configurations

Custom login sequence example - Step 1 configurations

Custom login sequence example - Step 2 configurations

Custom login sequence example - Step 3 configurations

In the following example, an authentication page located at https://example.com/auth/manual?lang=en includes a cookie consent overlay. The input fields in the login form become accessible after cookie consent has been accepted.

The image below illustrates the authentication page with the cookie consent overlay, along with the HTML markup of the elements used in the custom login sequence.

Authentication page that includes cookie consent button | Coveo

The cookie consent overlay is only displayed the first time the crawler accesses the authentication page. If the crawler accesses the page again during the content update operation, the cookie consent overlay won’t appear. As a result, the Accept Cookie Consent step in the custom login sequence is made conditional on the presence of text displayed in the cookie consent overlay.

Custom login sequence conditions and steps

Custom login sequence high-level configuration | Coveo

Step configurations

Custom login sequence step 1 configuration | Coveo

Custom login sequence step 2 configuration | Coveo

Custom login sequence step 3 configuration | Coveo