Debugging Adobe Tools with Charles - Part I | AEM Community Blog Seeding

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Debugging Adobe Tools with Charles - Part I by Pedromonjo

Abstract

Now that I have provided an introduction to HTTP Debuggers, I can explain how to use Charles to debug Adobe tools. In this post, I will show you how to start working with Charles, find the Adobe data and switch Launch environments.

Configuration
Proxy
The first thing you need to remember about Charles is that it is a proxy. This means that it is designed to sit between your browser and the web servers. In other words, you must force all web traffic to go through Charles.

By default, Charles takes care of that, by configuring the operating system to use it as the default proxy. Then, all browsers configured to use the system-wide proxy configuration will automatically send to Charles all traffic. I have not tested in macOS or Linux (although I am writing this post from my Ubuntu). Also, if you have changed your browser’s proxy settings or your company does that for you, you will need to change it manually.

If you need help with the configuration, you can start with the Configuration help section.

SSL certificates
When Google stated that it would promote HTTPS capable websites over HTTP-only websites, everybody rushed to configure their web servers with SSL certificates, including me. One direct consequence was that proxies could not read the traffic without raising the alarms. In general, that is a good thing, but if what you are planning is to play with this traffic, it becomes a nuisance.

I am not an expert in security nor certificates and it is beyond this post to explain them. What I can tell you is that you need to install Charles auto-generated certificates in your system or browser, so that your browsers do not complain about security threats every time you start debugging a new domain. Just follow the instructions in Charle’s help for SSL Certificates.

Getting used to Charles
When you start using this tool, you will see that it has many, many features. It may even seem overwhelming. However, you do not need to understand all of it. If it helps, I have used it extensively and I do not know all its features, only those that I need.

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Debugging Adobe Tools with Charles - Part I

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