Show pages based on authentication roles in Durandal SPA, MVC web app? - asp.net-mvc-4

what i'm trying to do is lock down certain pages in my durandal(knockoutjs/breezejs) SPA app based on a user's authenticated role (ie, if you're an admin, etc, you should see pages that others shouldn't).
ideally, server code could be used to either output the link or not based on role, but since durandal and SPA apps don't really work that way with server code, i'm at a loss.
i realize this question has been asked in other forms here (i.e. how to use .cshtml (server) pages with Durandal), and this could be an option if perhaps i could get it to work. i have yet to find a very complete example that works for me.
any ideas appreciated!

You can keep your routing information on the server and supply it to the application on initialization.
For example. In the activate method of your shell viewmodel
shell.js
define(['durandal/system', 'plugins/router', 'durandal/app', 'services/datacontext'],
function (system, router, app, datacontext) {
var routeInfo = ko.observable();
var shell = {
activate: activate,
router: router
};
return shell;
//#region Internal Methods
function activate() {
app.title = "Sample App";
return boot();
}
function boot() {
return datacontext.getRouteInformation(routeInfo).then(function() {
return router.map(routeInfo()).buildNavigationModel().mapUnknownRoutes('error', 'Error').activate();
});
}
//#endregion
});
my datacontext.getRouteInformation() gets a json array of route information based on the current users security context and populates the routeInfo observable. that observable is then passed to the map function to create the users valid routes etc.
I know this doesn't fully "lock down" the html files etc, but all of my controllers and actions have authorization attributes on them, so the data is protected.

Related

Reevaluate Nuxt.js middleware without a route change

I'm wondering if it's possible to essentially "reevaluate" the middleware conditions without actually changing the current route.
The middleware's purpose is to prevent non-logged-in users from accessing the "dashboard".
My issue is, a user could become logged in or logged out without necessarily changing route but they wouldn't be redirected until they try and change pages.
I have a VueX action that triggers when the user's auth state changes but this (from what I can see), can't access the redirect or route variables.
// /mixins/auth.js
const reevaluateAuthStatus = (store, redirect, route) => {
console.log(route)
const redirectPolicy = route.meta.map((meta) => {
if (meta.auth && typeof meta.auth.redirectPolicy !== 'undefined') { return meta.auth.redirectPolicy[0] }
return []
})
const user = store.getters['auth/getUser']
if (redirectPolicy.includes('LOGGEDOUT')) {
if (user) {
return redirect('/dashboard')
}
} else if (redirectPolicy.includes('LOGGEDIN')) {
if (!user) {
return redirect('/login')
}
}
}
module.exports = {
reevaluateAuthStatus
}
// /middleware/auth.js
import { reevaluateAuthStatus } from '../mixins/auth'
export default function ({ store, redirect, route }) {
reevaluateAuthStatus(store, redirect, route)
}
Appreciate any help on this :)
You cannot re-evaluate a middleware AFAIK because it's mainly this (as stated in the documentation)
middlewares will be called [...] on the client-side when navigating to further routes
2 clean ways you can still achieve this IMO:
use some websockets, either with socket.io or something similar like Apollo Subscriptions, to have your UI taking into account the new changes
export your middleware logic to some kind of call, that you could trigger again by calling the $fetch hook again or any other data-related fetching hook in Nuxt
Some more ugly solutions would probably be:
making an internal setInterval and check if the actual state is still valid every 5s or so
move to the same page you are actually on with something like this.$router.go(0) as somehow explained in the Vue router documentation
Still, most of the cases I don't think that this one may be a big issue if the user is logged out, because he will just be redirected once he tries something.
As if the user becomes logged-in, I'm not even sure on which case this one can happen if he is not doing something pro-active on your SPA.
I don't know if it's relevant or not, but I solved a similar problem this way:
I have a global middleware to check the auth status. It's a function that receives Context as a parameter.
I have a plugin that injects itself into context (e.g. $middleware).
The middleware function is imported here.
In this plugin I define a method that calls this middleware passing the context (since the Plugin has Context as parameter as well): ctx.$middleware.triggerMiddleware = () => middleware(ctx);
Now the middleware triggers on every route change as intended, but I can also call this.$middleware.triggerMiddleware() everywhere I want.

How to implement Auth0 server-side with Nuxtjs?

I have a Nuxt app with authentication already running in universal mode.
I'm trying to convert the authentication service to Auth0. I'm following the Vue quickstart, but I discovered that auth0-js is a client side library since it uses a lot of 'window'-stuff that is not available on the server-side of Nuxt.
However, I got it kind of working by making it a client-side plugin and wrap all functions (that is calling the authservice in the lifecycle hooks) in a process.client check. It works "kind of" because when going to the protected page whilst not logged in, it flashes the page before being redirected to login page (since its rendered on the server-side as well, but the check only happens once it's delivered on the client side I presume).
My question now is: What can I do in order to add the check to server-side as well? (or at least make sure that the protected pages isn't flashed before being redirected).
What I've tried so far:
Saving the payload and the logged-in state in the store and check in some custom middleware, but that didn't do the trick.
Also, it seems to me that #nuxt/auth is outdated or something and the nuxt auth0 example as well. It uses auth0-lock while I'm using the new auth0 universal.
Anyone have suggestions on how to solve this issue? Thanks in advance!
not sure if this will be any help and have only answered a few questions (other account long time ago).
Update.. I read my answer then the question title (I think my answer does cover some of your context), but in regards to the title you could also look at using auth as a plugin. You can then handle stuff there before the page is hit.
I am not sure how your code is implemented, but this may help (hopefully).
If you are not using Vuex, I strong recommend it. Nuxt Vuex Store Guide
// index/store.js
// At least have the store initialized, but its most likely going to be used..
// page.vue
<template>
...
<div v-else-if="!$auth.loggedIn">
{{ test }}
</div>
...
...
data() {
if (!this.$auth.loggedIn) {
const test = 'Only this will load, no flash'
return { test }
}
}
$auth.loggedIn is built in, I read it ..somewhere.. in the docs
This will solve the no flash issue, you can also take advantage of a loader screen and asyncData to check the state before rendering the view to avoid a flash and populate data if it hangs.
You could also try using Vuex Actions, I am currently playing with these 2 in the process of where I am now. Learning about nuxtServerInit()
// store/index.js
import axios from 'axios'
export const actions = {
nuxtServerInit ({commit}, {request}) {
// This is good if you have the user in your request or other server side stuff
if (request.user) commit('SET_USER', request.user)
},
async GET_USER({ commit }, username) {
const user = await axios.get(`/user/${username}`)
if (user) commit('SET_USER', user)
}
}
export const mutations = {
SET_USER(state, user) {
// simple set for now
state.auth.user = user || null
}
}
The second one is combined using the fetch() method on the page itself.
// page.vue
async fetch({ $auth, store }) {
await store.dispatch('GET_USER', $auth.$state.user)
}
Now you can call $auth.user in your code as needed.
$auth.user is another built in I read ..somewhere..
You can also call $auth.user with the $auth.loggedIn to check if user exists on top of being logged in $auth.user && $auth.loggedIn.
It may be this.$auth.<value> depending on where you are trying to reference it.
I learned the asyncData() gets call first and logs in my server, then data() logs values in the server console as well (false, null), but in my Brave console they're undefined, i'd like an answer to that lol
I have been struggling with trying to get Auth0 to work how I wanted with JWTs, but as I kept crawling I found useful bits along the way (even in old demos such as the one you mentioned, just nothing with the lock stuff...). Also in terms of express and my API in general... Anyways, hope this helped (someone).

How to stop page content load until authenticated using Firebase and Polymer

I am starting with Polymer and Firebase and have implemented the Google OAuth authentication.
I have notice the page loads before authentication and if you click back you can get to the page without authorization, albeit that you are not able to use the firebase api and therefore the page is not usable.
My issue is that I do not want my javascript loaded until authenticated.
How could this be done.
Many thanks
It depends if your using firebase or their polymer wrapper, polymerfire.
Create a document for all the imports that you want to be conditionally loaded
// user-scripts-lazy.html
<link rel="import" href="user-script-one.html">
<script src="script.js"></script>
// etc
Using Polymerfire
In the element that hosts <firebase-auth> create a observer and you'll expose some variables from firebase-auth.
<firebase-auth
user="{{user}}"
status-known="{{statusKnown}}"></firebase-auth>
In the observer, watch the user element and the status known
statusKnown: When true, login status can be determined by checking user property
user: The currently-authenticated user with user-related metadata. See the firebase.User documentation for the spec.
observers:[
'_userStateKnown(user, statusKnown)'
]
_userStateKnown: function(user, status) {
if(status && user) {
// The status is known and the user has logged in
// so load the files here - using the lazy load method
var resolvedPageUrl = this.resolveUrl('user-scripts-lazy.html.html');
this.importHref(resolvedPageUrl, null, this.onError, true);
}
}
To get the state without using polymerfire you can use onAuthStateChange
properties: {
user: {
type: Object,
value: null // important to initialise to null
}
}
..
ready: function() {
firebase.auth().onAuthStateChagned(function(user) {
if(user)
this.set('user', user); // when a user is logged in set their firebase user variable to ser
else
this.set('user', false); // when no user is logged in set user to false
}.bind(this)); // bind the Polymer scope to the onAuthStateChanged function
}
// set an observer in the element
observers: [
'_userChanged(user)'
],
_userChanged: function(user) {
if(user === null) {
// authStatus is false, the authStateChagned function hasn't returned yet. Do nothing
return;
}
if(user) {
// user has been signed in
// lazy load the same as before
} else {
// no user is signed in
}
}
I haven't tested the code while writing it here, but i've implemented the same thing various times.
There are a couple of options.
Put content you don't want loaded behind a dom-if template with "[[user]]" as its driver. This could include your firebase element, so the database isn't even considered until after log on.
Put a modal dialog box up if the user is not logged on. I do this with a custom session element . Whilst the overlay is showing then the rest of the page is unresponsive to anything.
If it is simply an aesthetic issue of removing the non-logged-in page from view, could you either hide the page (or display some kind of overlay) while the user isn't authenticated?
I currently have this in an current project for some elements: hidden$="{{!user}}"
I have identified the solution for my purpose ...
Add storage role based authorization (see is there a way to authenticate user role in firebase storage rules?)
This does have a limitation currently of hard coded uid's
In the page, request storage resource and if successful include it in the dom (i.e. add script element with src pointing to storage url)
Call javascript as normal

How to authenticate users in FirefoxOS using BrowserID / Persona?

I am trying to write an FirefoxOS app for my portal which uses Mozilla Persona for authentication. How I should proceed if I want to achieve:
Allow users of my app to signup to my portal using Persona
Allow users of my app to login to my portal within the FirefoxOS app and perform some actions with the API
Depends if users is logged or not - giving access to different actions.
I have found this post with info that its integrated already: http://identity.mozilla.com/post/47114516102/persona-on-firefox-os-phones but I can't find any real examples.
What type of application I need to create? webapp or privileged?
I am trying to implement it using regular tutorial: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Persona/Quick_Setup
But with this code:
signinLink.onclick = function() { navigator.id.request(); };
I am getting only following error:
[17:25:18.089] Error: Permission denied to access object
One thing is to make sure you're calling watch() to setup callbacks before you call request().
For example, something like this in your page:
<script src="https://login.persona.org/include.js"></script>
<script>
window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
navigator.id.watch({
// Provide a hint to Persona: who do you think is logged in?
loggedInUser: null,
// Called when persona provides you an identity assertion
// after a successful request(). You *must* post the assertion
// to your server for verification. Never verify assertions
// in client code. See Step 3 in this document:
// https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Persona/Quick_Setup
onlogin: function(assertion) {
// do something with assertion ...
// Note that Persona will also call this function automatically
// if a previously-signed-in user visits your page again.
},
onlogout: function() {
// handle logout ...
},
onready: function() {
// Your signal that Persona's state- and callback-management
// business is complete. Enable signin buttons etc.
}
});
// Set up click handlers for your buttons
document.getElementById("signin").addEventListener(
'click', function() {
navigator.id.request({
// optional callback to request so you can respond to
// a user canceling the sign-in flow
oncancel: function() { /* do something */ }
});
}
});
});
</script>
Here's an example that shows this in action:
https://people.mozilla.org/~jparsons/persona_example.html
However, on FirefoxOS, you should be aware that installed apps (not packaged or certified, but generic installed apps) are given a unique origin of the form app://{uuid}, with a different uuid for each device. This is unfortunately useless for sign-in purposes because there's no way for your server to know whether an app requesting sign-in is friend or foe. The way around this problem is to run your persona code in an invisible iframe hosted on your server. Thus the iframe will have the correct origin and your server will know it's your app. The iframe and the app can communicate via postMessage.
In the case of a packaged app (sometimes called a privileged app), your origin will be the origin declared in your webapp manifest. E.g., app://yourapp.yoursite.org. This gives you better assurance that the app is really yours, but the truly paranoid may still wish to deploy the iframe trick.
Hope this helps!
j

Session Data with Durandal

I am just getting started with Durandal.js so excuse me for the silly quesstion...
When a user makes it's first request to the app it is asked to choose a 'profile kind', and I need it to be accessible to every other view model in the web site, I first though of creating this property in the shell viewmodel, but don't how to do it.
How is the best way to store data in a Session like mode in a Durandal SPA?
Thanks!
Create an amd module for what data you need to store.
Then just require that module as a dependency for whatever other modules that need it.
Sort of like this:
session module
define(function () {
return {
someVariable: 'value1',
someVariable2: 'value2'
}
})
some other module
define(['session'], function(session) {
return {
getValue1: function () {
return session.someVariable;
},
obs1: ko.observable(session.someVariable2)
}
})
EDIT**
AMD modules are there to not pollute the global namespace of the window object. But if you would rather not require your session as a dependency and just access it through a global variable then that is perfectly fine.
you can declare it in your shell.js if you would like and do something like:
define(function () {
window.session = { someVariable: 'value1', someVariable2: 'value2' };
})
then inside some other module you can access the session object like so:
define(function() {
return {
getValue1: function () {
return session.someVariable;
},
obs1: ko.observable(session.someVariable2)
}
})
This information will not be persisted between page refreshes.. its only in-memory.
If your looking to persist the session data I would not look into persisting any information on the client unless you planned on making your app an off-line application.
An offline application is an app that works even w/out internet access. But if your app requires that the user is always connected to the internet then I would just store the session data on the server. So, just use web services to persist the session data and retrieve it.
You can tie the session on the server to the client by using a cookie.
As an alternative to Evan's answer, which is definitively the correct AMD approach... have you considered using a global object for that purpose?
in main.js
window.myApp = {
prop1: 'value',
subOne: {
prop1: 'value'
}
...
}
That will allow you to access the global myApp object everywhere. I know that some people will consider that as global namespace pollution and in general a bad practice, but in a SPA project (where you control window) I'd consider this still a viable approach.