CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascripthtmlexpressfirebase-authentication
e.iluf
e.iluf

Reputation: 1659

how to check user authentication status on the server side

I want to check user authentication before showing a html page

my server.js file is like this

const express = require('express');
var jquery = require('jquery');
var admin = require("firebase");

const app = express();

app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));



var serviceAccount = require("firebasekey.json");

admin.initializeApp({
  credential: admin.credential.cert(serviceAccount),
  databaseURL: "https://23442344114.firebaseio.com"
});

var ref = admin.app().database().ref();
 

app.get(['/','/index.html'], function(req, res) {
	res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/index.html');
 
 });


app.get(['/dash' ], function(req, res) {
	res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/dash/index.html');
  
 });

How could I check if a user is authenticated first on the server side before rendering a page; for example, 

 app.get(['/dash' ], function(req, res) {
      //check if the user is authenticated

     if auth == true {
    res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/dash/index.html');
     } else{
            res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/login.html');

     }

 });

how do I check the user authentication status on the server side?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1129

Answers (2)

TRomesh
TRomesh

Reputation: 4481

You should read about Authentication methods like JWT and OAuth. You can use a middleware to check if a particular user is authenticated or not. You can you libraries like passport for this. You can create you own router level middleware like this.

let middleware = function (req, res, next) {
   //Do your checking...
   next();
};

app.get(['/dash' ],middleware, function(req, res) {
   //check if the user is authenticated

   if auth == true {
       res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/dash/index.html');
   } else {
       res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/login.html');
   }
});

Upvotes: 1

David Joos
David Joos

Reputation: 946

As suggested, there are countless ways to authenticate your users. But i will help you out with a simple example:

  1. You should have a persistent list of your users e.g. database. For the simplicity we will go with a constant in your code.
const express = require('express');
var jquery = require('jquery');
var admin = require("firebase");

const USER = {
    email: "[email protected]",
    password: "12345"
}
  1. There are several ways to implement the authentication check. I would recommend using a middleware which can be applied to various routes:
const authenticate = (req, res, next) => {
    // parse the user out of your request
    // e.g with bodyparser -> see npm
    if (req.body.email === USER.email && req.body.password === USER.password) {
        next()
    } else {
        res.send({ status: 401 });
    }
}
  1. Apply this middleware to the routes you want to protect or to all routes
// all routes
app.use(authenticate)

// certain route
app.get('/someRoute', authenticate, (req, res)) => {
    // only successful authenticated user
    // (in this case: [email protected]) will
    // have access to this route.
    // ... code
}

This pattern can be extended with e.g cookies, jwt and of course a database where you can store your registered users.

Upvotes: 1

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