Custom login sequence

This is for:

Developer System Administrator

A custom login sequence is a configuration that lets administrators build custom form authentication processes. Web and Sitemap sources provide a user interface to help you create and edit a custom login sequence.

Important

The standard Coveo form authentication login sequence can handle many use cases without a custom login sequence, including several authentication provider login pages (for example, OneLogin, Google, Salesforce). Even if the login page doesn’t match a known authentication provider, the standard Coveo form authentication will often successfully detect, fill, and submit a login form on the page.

Always try authenticating without a custom login sequence first. You should only start working on a custom login sequence when you’re sure your form authentication details are accurate and that the standard form authentication process doesn’t work.

Add login sequence conditions and steps

The default Custom login sequence section configuration is the following:

Add custom login sequence conditions and 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

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/edit 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. Otherwise, the Edit a custom login sequence step panel appears with the already-defined step configuration.

Edit a new custom login sequence step | Coveo

At this stage, you can:

1 Change the step name.

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

3 Add or edit 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 Edit the configuration of 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 pressing 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 pressing the Space key.

  • Press enter: Simulates pressing 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 pressing 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, you must specify the id attribute value of the target form element in the Element identifier field.

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 example

The following example shows a custom login sequence for a Web source that uses the Microsoft Online login page.

Note

This example was validated with the following form authentication settings:

  • Login page address: https://login.microsoftonline.com

  • Loading delay: 800 milliseconds

  • Validation method: Redirection to URL

  • Validation method value: https://login.microsoftonline.com

Custom login sequence conditions and steps:

Custom login sequence example - Conditions and steps | Coveo

Step configurations:

Custom login sequence example - Step 1 configurations

Custom login sequence example - Step 2 configurations

Custom login sequence example - Step 3 configurations