Using captcha with ADF Faces (Integrate Kaptcha project with Oracle ADF)

First of all wishing a very Happy New Year to all of you, learn more n more ADF this year :)

This post is about using captcha challenge in ADF Faces, captcha is used to determine whether user is a human or not
CAPTCHA stands for-Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
Frank Nimphius posted about 'captcha with ADF Faces' using "Simple Captcha" project.
You can read complete article- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/captcha-099103.html



For this post I am using modern version of simplecaptcha project called Kaptcha, project provides a servlet that is responsible for generating captcha image and there are various configuration parameters to change look n feel of captcha image
See project documentation - https://code.google.com/p/kaptcha/
Download jar file- https://code.google.com/p/kaptcha/downloads/list

Now see the steps to integrate Kaptcha project with Oracle ADF

• Create a FusionWeb Application, attach kaptcha-2.3.2 jar to viewController project, also see How to use "Kaptcha"-https://code.google.com/p/kaptcha/wiki/HowToUse





• Next step is to add kaptcha servlet reference in web.xml file



 <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Kaptcha</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.google.code.kaptcha.servlet.KaptchaServlet</servlet-class>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Kaptcha</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/kaptchaimage</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>



• Add an af:image on page to show captcha, image source is referenced from servlet mapping



<af:image id="i1" partialtriggers="l1" shortdesc="Captcha" source="/kaptchaimage">



• Default configuration for captcha image is completed , I have added an af:inputText and button on page to enter captcha result .



<af:panelBox text="Captcha Demo- www.awasthiashish.com" id="pb1" showDisclosure="false"
                                 inlineStyle="width:350px;">
                        <f:facet name="toolbar"/>
                        <af:spacer width="0" height="10" id="s3"/>
                        <af:panelFormLayout id="pfl1">
                            <af:panelGroupLayout id="pgl1" layout="horizontal">
                                <af:image source="/kaptchaimage" id="i1" partialTriggers="l1" shortDesc="Captcha"/>
                                <af:spacer width="10" height="0" id="s4"/>
                                <af:link id="l1" icon="#{resource['images:reload.png']}" shortDesc="Refresh Captcha"/>
                            </af:panelGroupLayout>
                            <af:inputText label="Enter text" id="it1" binding="#{ReadCaptchaBean.entrdCaptchaBind}"
                                          contentStyle="font-weight:bold;"/>
                            <af:button text="Submit" id="b1" actionListener="#{ReadCaptchaBean.readCaptchAction}"/>
                        </af:panelFormLayout>
                    </af:panelBox>



• Run application and see how captcha image is appearing on page





• It looks good :-), now see the managed bean code written in submit button's action. This code checks actual captcha value with entered value



    //Binding of inputText to get entered value
    private RichInputText entrdCaptchaBind;

    public void setEntrdCaptchaBind(RichInputText entrdCaptchaBind) {
        this.entrdCaptchaBind = entrdCaptchaBind;
    }

    public RichInputText getEntrdCaptchaBind() {
        return entrdCaptchaBind;
    }
    
    /**Method to check whether entered value is correct or not
     * @param actionEvent
     */
    public void readCaptchaAction(ActionEvent actionEvent) {
        FacesContext fctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
        ExternalContext ectx = fctx.getExternalContext();
        HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) ectx.getRequest();
        //KAPTCHA_SESSION_KEY- The value for the kaptcha is generated and is put into the HttpSession. This is the key value for that item in the session.
        String kaptchaExpected =
            (String) request.getSession().getAttribute(com.google.code.kaptcha.Constants.KAPTCHA_SESSION_KEY);
        //Get entered value of captcha using inputText binding
        String kaptchaReceived = entrdCaptchaBind.getValue().toString();
        System.out.println("Entered Value-" + kaptchaReceived + " Expected Value-" + kaptchaExpected);
        if (kaptchaReceived == null || !kaptchaReceived.equalsIgnoreCase(kaptchaExpected)) {
            FacesMessage errMsg = new FacesMessage("Invalid Value");
            errMsg.setDetail("Incorrect captcha value- Not Human");
            errMsg.setSeverity(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_ERROR);
            fctx.addMessage(entrdCaptchaBind.getClientId(), errMsg);
        } else {
            FacesMessage errMsg = new FacesMessage("Correct Value");
            errMsg.setDetail("Hello this is the right guess");
            errMsg.setSeverity(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_INFO);
            fctx.addMessage(entrdCaptchaBind.getClientId(), errMsg);
        }
    }



• Again run this application and enter value for captcha








• So it is working , now to change captcha image added a link with partialSubmit=false and set partial trigger property on af:image.





• Kaptcha integration with Oracle ADF is complete and it is working properly  now if you want to modify captcha look n feel then add some init-param (configuration parameter) in web.xml file.
  See complete list of configuration parameters- https://code.google.com/p/kaptcha/wiki/ConfigParameters
  I have changed some parameters value in web.xml , see changed source of web.xml and captcha output



<servlet>
        <servlet-name>Kaptcha</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.google.code.kaptcha.servlet.KaptchaServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.border</param-name>
            <param-value>yes</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.border.color</param-name>
            <param-value>red</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.border.thickness</param-name>
            <param-value>1</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.image.width</param-name>
            <param-value>250</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.image.height</param-name>
            <param-value>60</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.textproducer.font.size</param-name>
            <param-value>35</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.textproducer.font.color</param-name>
            <param-value>red</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.background.clear.from</param-name>
            <param-value>orange</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>kaptcha.textproducer.char.length</param-name>
            <param-value>7</param-value>
        </init-param>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Kaptcha</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/kaptchaimage</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>


again run this application and check output


Thanks, Happy Learning :)
Download-Sample ADF Application