Handling Auth Errors Gracefully

1. Introduction

In modern applications, handling authentication errors gracefully is crucial for enhancing user experience and security. This lesson covers common authentication errors, strategies for handling them, and best practices to ensure your application remains secure while providing informative feedback to users.

2. Common Authentication Errors

• Invalid Credentials: The username or password entered is incorrect.
• Token Expired: The authentication token has expired and needs to be refreshed.
• Unauthorized Access: The user does not have permission to access the requested resource.
• Account Locked: The user account is locked due to multiple failed login attempts.

3. Error Handling Strategies

Implementing effective error handling strategies involves the following steps:

1. Centralized Error Handling: Use a centralized error handler to manage authentication errors consistently across the application.
2. Use Status Codes: Always return appropriate HTTP status codes with error responses (e.g., 401 for unauthorized, 403 for forbidden).
3. Graceful Degradation: Provide fallback options when errors occur, allowing users to continue using the application.

4. Providing User Feedback

It's essential to provide meaningful feedback to users when authentication errors occur. This can be done through:

• Clear Error Messages: Inform users about what went wrong and how to fix it.
• Visual Indicators: Use visual cues (e.g., red borders on input fields) to highlight errors.
• Retry Options: Allow users to retry their action after an error.

5. Best Practices

6. FAQ