A utility library for handling authentication and authorization for redux and react-router
npm install redux-auth-wrapper




Decouple your Authentication and Authorization from your components!
npm install --save redux-auth-wrapper
Versioning Note: This project adheres to semver. Please view the Changelog for release notes.
At first, handling authentication and authorization seems easy in React-Router and Redux. After all, we have a handy onEnter method, shouldn't we use it?
onEnter is great, and useful in certain situations. However, here are some common authentication and authorization problems onEnter does not solve:
* Decide authentication/authorization from redux store data (there are some workarounds)
* Recheck authentication/authorization if the store updates (but not the current route)
* Recheck authentication/authorization if a child route changes underneath the protected route (React Router 2.0 now supports this with onChange)
An alternative approach is to use Higher Order Components.
> A higher-order component is just a function that takes an existing component and returns another component that wraps it
Redux-auth-wrapper provides higher-order components for easy to read and apply authentication and authorization constraints for your components.
Usage with React-Router-Redux (Version 4.0)
``js
import React from 'react'
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom'
import { createStore, combineReducers, applyMiddleware, compose } from 'redux'
import { Provider } from 'react-redux'
import { Router, Route, browserHistory } from 'react-router'
import { routerReducer, syncHistoryWithStore, routerActions, routerMiddleware } from 'react-router-redux'
import { UserAuthWrapper } from 'redux-auth-wrapper'
import userReducer from '
const reducer = combineReducers({
routing: routerReducer,
user: userReducer
})
const routingMiddleware = routerMiddleware(browserHistory)
// Note: passing middleware as the last argument requires redux@>=3.1.0
const store = createStore(
reducer,
applyMiddleware(routingMiddleware)
)
const history = syncHistoryWithStore(browserHistory, store)
// Redirects to /login by default
const UserIsAuthenticated = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user, // how to get the user state
redirectAction: routerActions.replace, // the redux action to dispatch for redirect
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsAuthenticated' // a nice name for this auth check
})
ReactDOM.render(
document.getElementById('mount')
)
`
And your userReducer looks something like:
`js`
const userReducer = (state = {}, { type, payload }) => {
if (type === USER_LOGGED_IN) {
return payload
}
if (type === USER_LOGGED_OUT) {
return {}
}
return state
}
When the user navigates to /foo, one of the following occurs:
1. If The user data is null or an empty object:
The user is redirected to /login?redirect=%2foo
Notice the url contains the query parameter redirect for sending the user back to after you log them into your app
2. Otherwise:
The component is rendered and passed the user data as a property
Any time the user data changes, the UserAuthWrapper will re-check for authentication.
Note: You still need to provide a mechanism for redirecting the user from the login page back to your component. You can
also do that with redux-auth-wrapper! See the loading example for further details.
UserAuthWrapper(configObject)(DecoratedComponent)
#### Config Object Keys
authSelector(state, [ownProps]): authData \(Function*): A state selector for the auth data. Just like mapToStateProps.authenticatingSelector(state, [ownProps]): Bool
ownProps will be null if isOnEnter is true because onEnter hooks cannot receive the component properties. Can be ignored when not using onEnter.
\(Function*): A state selector indicating if the user is currently authenticating. Just like mapToStateProps. Useful for async session loading.LoadingComponent
\(Component*): A React component to render while authenticatingSelector is true. Will be passedchildren
all properties passed into the wrapped component, including .FailureComponent
\(Component*): A React component to render when authenticatingSelector is false. If specified, the wrapper willnull
not redirect. Can be set to to display nothing when the user is not authenticated/authorized.[failureRedirectPath]
\(String | (state, [ownProps]): String*): Optional path to redirect the browser to on a failed check. Defaults to /login. Can also be a function of state and ownProps that returns a string.[redirectQueryParamName]
\(String*): Optional name of the query parameter added when allowRedirectBack is true. Defaults to redirect.[redirectAction]
\(Function*): Optional redux action creator for redirecting the user. If not present, will use React-Router's router context to perform the transition.[wrapperDisplayName]
\(String*): Optional name describing this authentication or authorization check.UserAuthWrapper
It will display in React-devtools. Defaults to [predicate(authData): Bool]
\(Function*): Optional function to be passed the result of the authSelector param.failureRedirectPath
If it evaluates to false the browser will be redirected to , otherwise DecoratedComponent will be rendered. By default, it returns false if authData is {} or null.[allowRedirectBack]
\(Bool | (location, redirectPath): Bool* ): Optional bool on whether to pass a redirect query parameter to the failureRedirectPath. Can also be a function of location and the computed failureRedirectPath passed above, that must return a boolean value. Defaults to true.[propMapper]
\(Function*): Optional function that takes the props passed into the wrapped component and returns those props to pass to the DecoratedComponent, The LoadingComponent, and the FailureComponent.
#### Returns
After applying the configObject, UserAuthWrapper returns a function which can applied to a Component to wrap in authentication andonEnter(store, nextState, replace)
authorization checks. The function also has the following extra properties:
\(Function*): Function to be optionally used in the onEnter property of a route.
#### Component Parameter
DecoratedComponent \(React Component*): The component to be wrapped in the auth check. It will pass down all props given to the returned component as well as the prop authData which is the result of the authSelector.
The component is not modified and all static properties are hoisted to the returned component
`js
/ Allow only users with first name Bob /
const OnlyBob = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
redirectAction: routerActions.replace,
failureRedirectPath: '/app',
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsOnlyBob',
predicate: user => user.firstName === 'Bob'
})
/ Admins only /
// Take the regular authentication & redirect to login from before
const UserIsAuthenticated = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
redirectAction: routerActions.replace,
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsAuthenticated'
})
// Admin Authorization, redirects non-admins to /app and don't send a redirect param
const UserIsAdmin = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
redirectAction: routerActions.replace,
failureRedirectPath: '/app',
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsAdmin',
predicate: user => user.isAdmin,
allowRedirectBack: false
})
// Now to secure the component: first check if the user is authenticated, and then check if the user is an admin
`
The ordering of the nested higher order components is important because UserIsAuthenticated(UserIsAdmin(Admin))/login
means that logged out admins will be redirected to before checking if they are an admin.
Otherwise admins would be sent to /app if they weren't logged in and then redirected to /login, only to find themselves at /app
after entering their credentials.
#### Hiding Components
The auth wrappers can be used for more than redirection. You can use the FailureComponent parameter to hide aFailureComponent
component or display an alternative component when the user is not authorized. Keep in mind that wrappers that use will not redirect users.
Here is an example that hides a link from a non-admin user.
`js
const VisibleOnlyAdmin = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
wrapperDisplayName: 'VisibleOnlyAdmin',
predicate: user => user.isAdmin,
FailureComponent: null
})
// Applying to a function component for simplicity but could be Class or createClass component
const AdminOnlyLink = VisibleOnlyAdmin(() => Admin Section)
`
You can see an example of hiding links in the basic example.
#### Alternate Components
Alternatively, you can specify a FailureComponent to display an alternative component, in this example we specify a new
function for our returned HOC to make it more flexible to apply across the app.
`js
const AdminOrElse = (Component, FailureComponent) => UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
wrapperDisplayName: 'AdminOrElse',
predicate: user => user.isAdmin,
FailureComponent
})(Component)
// Show Admin dashboard to admins and user dashboard to regular users
`
One benefit of the beginning example is that it is clear from looking at the Routes where the
authentication & authorization logic is applied. There are a variety of other places to apply redux-auth-wrapper. Please
review this section first to avoid incorrectly applying the HOC and causing bugs in your code.
#### Safe to Apply
Directly inside ReactDOM.render:
`js`
ReactDOM.render(
...
document.getElementById('mount')
)
Separate route config file:
`js
const routes = (
...
)
ReactDOM.render(
{routes}
document.getElementById('mount')
)
`
Applied in the component file (es7):
`js`
@UserIsAuthenticated
export default class MyComponent extends Component {
...
}
Applied in the component file (es6):
`js`
class MyComponent extends Component {
...
}
export default UserIsAuthenticated(MyComponent)
Applied outside the component file:
`js
import MyComponent from './component/mycomponent.js'
const MyAuthComponent = UserIsAuthenticated(MyComponent)
`
#### Not Safe to Apply
The following are all not safe because they create a new component over and over again, preventing react from considering these the "same" component and causing mounting/unmounting loops.
Inside of render:
`js
import MyComponent from './component/MyComponent.js'
class MyParentComponent extends Component {
render() {
const MyAuthComponent = UserIsAuthenticated(MyComponent)
return
}
}
`
Inside of any getComponent:`js`
const routes = (
cb(null, UserIsAuthenticated(Foo))
}} />
...
)
js
const Authenticated = UserIsAuthenticated((props) => React.cloneElement(props.children, props));
`Dispatching an Additional Redux Action on Redirect
You may want to dispatch an additional redux action when a redirect occurs. One example of this is to display a notification message
that the user is being redirected or don't have access to that protected resource. To do this, you can chain the redirectAction
parameter using redux-thunk middleware. It depends slightly on if you are using a redux + routing solution or just React Router.#### Using
react-router-redux or redux-router and dispatching an extra redux action in the wrapper
`js
import { replace } from 'react-router-redux'; // Or your redux-router equivalent
import addNotification from './notificationActions';// Admin Authorization, redirects non-admins to /app
const UserIsAdmin = UserAuthWrapper({
failureRedirectPath: '/app',
predicate: user => user.isAdmin,
redirectAction: (newLoc) => (dispatch) => {
dispatch(replace(newLoc));
dispatch(addNotification({ message: 'Sorry, you are not an administrator' }));
},
...
})
`#### Using React Router with history singleton and extra redux action
`js
import { browserHistory } from 'react-router';
import addNotification from './notificationActions';// Admin Authorization, redirects non-admins to /app
const UserIsAdmin = UserAuthWrapper({
failureRedirectPath: '/app',
predicate: user => user.isAdmin,
redirectAction: (newLoc) => (dispatch) => {
browserHistory.replace(newLoc);
dispatch(addNotification({ message: 'Sorry, you are not an administrator' }));
},
...
})
`
Server Side Rendering
If your UserAuthWrapper uses redirection, then you may need to use the onEnter property
of a to perform authentication and authorization checks for Server Side Rendering. (Note: If you are only using FailureComponent and not redirecting in your UserAuthWrapper, then you do not need to use onEnter option described below.)During onEnter, selectors such as
authSelector, authenticatingSelector, and failureRedirectPath (if you are using)
the function variation, will receive react-router's nextState as their second argument instead of the component props.You can access the
onEnter method of the UserAuthWrapper after applying the config parameters:
`js
import { UserAuthWrapper } from 'redux-auth-wrapper';const UserIsAuthenticated = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
redirectAction: routerActions.replace,
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsAuthenticated'
})
const getRoutes = (store) => {
const connect = (fn) => (nextState, replaceState) => fn(store, nextState, replaceState);
return (
);
};
`#### Server Side Rendering (SSR) with nested auth wrappers
To implement SSR with nested wrappers, you will have to provide a function to chain
onEnter functions of each wrapper. To illustrate this, we can modify the example provided in the Authorization & Advanced Usage section above, wherein UserIsAuthenticated is the parent wrapper and UserIsAdmin is the child wrapper.`js
import { UserAuthWrapper } from 'redux-auth-wrapper';const UserIsAuthenticated = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
redirectAction: routerActions.replace,
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsAuthenticated'
})
// Admin Authorization, redirects non-admins to /app and don't send a redirect param
const UserIsAdmin = UserAuthWrapper({
authSelector: state => state.user,
redirectAction: routerActions.replace,
failureRedirectPath: '/app',
wrapperDisplayName: 'UserIsAdmin',
predicate: user => user.isAdmin,
allowRedirectBack: false
})
const getRoutes = (store) => {
const connect = (fn) => (nextState, replaceState) => fn(store, nextState, replaceState);
//This executes the parent onEnter first, going from left to right.
//
replace has to be wrapped because we want to stop executing onEnter hooks
// after the first call to replace.
const onEnterChain = (...listOfOnEnters) => (store, nextState, replace) => {
let redirected = false;
const wrappedReplace = (...args) => {
replace(...args);
redirected = true;
};
listOfOnEnters.forEach((onEnter) => {
if (!redirected) {
onEnter(store, nextState, wrappedReplace);
}
});
}; return (
component={UserIsAuthenticated(UserIsAdmin(Admin))}
onEnter={connect(onEnterChain(UserIsAuthenticated.onEnter, UserIsAdmin.onEnter))} />
);
};
`React Native
This library can be used with React Native
>= 0.25.0` without any changes.Using React Native and redux-auth-wrapper? Please help create an example for others to get started!