The Authentication Link Type is designed to take a user from the page the message appears on to a new destination URL. If instead you want the user to return to the same page they are current viewing, you should instead use the Authentication Loop type instead.
Common Use Cases
While this link type could be used in lots of creative ways, two of the most common use cases include:
1) Linking from one domain to a new URL and authenticating the user at the same time. For example, many libraries have either OVID's UpToDate service or EBSCO's DynaMed Plus, but not both. However, a user - particularly a new one just out of school or from another hospital - might instinctively search for one or the other, so having a rule to redirect the user as needed would be very helpful!
To build a link in this use case make sure to put the full, authenticated URL in the Destination URL field. For example, if you are using a proxy your link may look something like this to authenticate to UpToDate:
https://libraryproxy.school.edu/login?url=https://www.uptodate.com
2) Providing a SAML WAYFLess link for a SAML resources to emulate the "Authentication Loop" effect. Authentication Loop can't work in a SAML resource context (unless using OpenAthens Redirector) because there is no consistent syntax to build the "WAYFless" property from -- it varies from service to service. To workaround this, the Authentication Link type offers you all the tools you need to create this WAYFLess link experience with the redirect URL to be pointed back at the page the user is currently visiting.
Building a WAYFLess URL generally requires including the service, your Identity Provider (IdP) URL (encoded) and the destination URL (encoded). An example, using the Springer platform would thus be built like this:
https://fsso.springer.com/saml/login?idp=[Entity ID encoded]&targetUrl=[Target URL encoded]
With LibKey Nomad++, a substitution is provided for the [Target URL encoded] parameter so that the URL the user is on at the time gets acquired and encoded and added to the rest of the URL you specify. Thus, rather than providing a particular destination URL you can simply use {current_url_encoded}. The service URL and IdP URL however do need to be specified in full like the example below:
Example again for Springer but with an example IdP provided and utilizing the {current_url_encoded} substitution:
https://fsso.springer.com/saml/login?idp=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.university.edu%2Fidp%2Fshibboleth&targetUrl={current_url_encoded}
Helpful Resources
A helpful index of SAML WAYFless URL's can be found here at the UK Federation Website (The links to various publishers can be used by ALL Federations (or no Federation) not just the UK Federation).
Another useful resource is this URL Encoder which you'll need to use to create WAYFless URLs as both the IdP and Destination URL needs to be encoded.
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