WebAuthenticationBroker window size

Question

Hi,

I'm having a problem with WebAuthenticationBroker.authenticateAsync().

The broker shows up and loads the correct page, but the window (or frame) for the page is too small. There is enough space to the left and to the right, but the window is very narrow (only about a third of the screen width). As a result, the authentication page does not fit into the window, I have to scroll to the right too see the rest of it (see screenshot below, imagine a scroll bar at the bottom of the blue window).

Is there a way to control the size of the window that shows the authentication page?

Thanks

Guido

Answer 1

I know this is a known issue, and it greatly depends on the target authentication page. The best thing you can do is point to an authentication page that fits well. For example, FaceBook has a main login page that doesn't look good in the broker; it's much better to use a URL that points to the mobile login page.

If you control the target service, then of course you can create a smaller page that shows up well. If not, we've seen that various services are somewhat open to providing a more appropriate page so that they also look good in your app.

Like I said, this is a known issue but I can't speak to what any potential fix might be. Using an appropriate page URI is the best remedy at this time.

Answer 2

To any who are concerned with the same issue as described in the original post, this bug has not been addressed with Windows 8 RC bits.  I'm not sure why MS added this feature to be honest if it does not work for Facebook.  FB is the most popular social networking site and if it doesn't work here, what was the intent here? Could the authentication broke expose a parameter for setting a starting page width?  Facebook's OAUTH width is less than the minimum width required for Windows 8 hardware...

Answer 3

I'm encountering this very issue while trying to authenticate through Foursquare (using the RC).  The symptom is the same - the target window is cut off to the right.

Kraig's suggested workaround helped - I altered the URI to request a specific type of login page (rather than allow it to autodetect) and the result fits.  Thanks!

Answer 4

I'm encountering this very issue while trying to authenticate through Foursquare (using the RC).  The symptom is the same - the target window is cut off to the right.

Kraig's suggested workaround helped - I altered the URI to request a specific type of login page (rather than allow it to autodetect) and the result fits.  Thanks!

Hi!  The suggestion above may help in your situation but it certainly doesn't resolve the issue I encounter.  If you are using Facebook here are two show stoppers: 

1) When you try to authorize a Facebook app for the first time a Facebook user permissions dialog appears and this screen exceeds WAB display bounds.  

2) The FB "Login" button is on the opposite side of the credential input area -- see screenshot.  There is no way to hint to the WAB that the fixed size it is using doesn't work for a particular OAuth implementation.  This WAB code is broken.  It's broken, as in WAB = "Windows Authentication Broken". 

Web browsers have no trouble displaying FB pop-ups correctly (or any OAuth pop-up) so that content is centered and sized appropriately.  The biggest puzzle here is why these dialogs  (which are cut off by WAB) are sized smaller than the minimum display resolution of a Windows 8 device.  Seriously -- if the Facebook auth dialog is too large for you, Microsoft, maybe the WAB code is broken.

Can anyone comment on the feasibility of launching a separate web browser window from a WindowsRT app to circumvent (and recreate) this WAB functionality?  With respect to pulling state from said separate browser window, is this workflow possible?  If this behavior is fixed I would be ecstatic because then I could build apps for your platform.

 

 

Answer 5

Not really a good enough answer...a year on and the problem still exists!

Really come on, you cannot say that the providers need to fix their pages to suit Microsoft. It's not hard to put some options in that enable us to show these pages correctly.

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Vincent Rothwell - http://blog.thekid.me.uk/default.aspx