unisono/specs/009-inactive-sessions-purging/quickstart.md

Quickstart Guide for Inactive Sessions Purging, Form Data Persistence, and Centralized Snackbars

This guide provides instructions to quickly set up, configure, and verify the new features.

1. Configure Session Inactivity Timeout

The session inactivity timeout is controlled by an environment variable. To configure it:

1. Locate your backend service's environment configuration (e.g., .env file, Docker Compose environment variables).
2. Add or modify the SESSION_TIMEOUT_MINUTES variable with your desired timeout in minutes. For example:

   SESSION_TIMEOUT_MINUTES=5
   

   (This will set the timeout to 5 minutes.)
3. Restart your backend service for the changes to take effect.

2. Verify Form Data Persistence

To test the real-time form data persistence:

1. Navigate to a page containing a form (e.g., a user profile edit page, a new entry form).
2. Start typing values into the form fields but DO NOT submit the form.
3. Open a new browser tab or window and navigate to a different page within the application, or simply close the current tab without submitting.
4. Return to the original form page (or reopen the tab).
5. Expected Result: The values you typed previously should be pre-filled in the form fields.
6. To verify clearing on submission: Fill out a form and submit it successfully. Then, try to return to that form page. The fields should now be empty.

3. Observe Snackbar Display

To verify the consistent display of snackbar notifications:

1. Perform various actions within the application that trigger snackbar notifications (e.g., successful form submission, an error message, a confirmation).
2. Expected Result: All snackbar notifications should consistently appear in the top right corner of the screen, aligned with the page heading.
3. Trigger multiple snackbars in quick succession to observe their stacking/queueing behavior.

4. Test WebSocket Failure Indication

To test the visual indication for WebSocket communication failure:

1. Navigate to a page with a form that uses real-time persistence.
2. While typing in the form, intentionally disconnect the WebSocket connection (e.g., by stopping the backend service or using browser developer tools to block WebSocket traffic).
3. Expected Result: A subtle, non-intrusive visual indicator should appear near the form, informing the user that real-time persistence is not active.