Redirect to login before the plugin's template is rendered

cool

My plugin controller.js

var Controllers = {};
Controllers.renderMapPage = function (req, res, next) {

        //Render the templates/map.tpl
	res.render('map', {
             ...
	});
};

When a user browses to the map and if he is not logged in, she should be redirected to Login page and after successful login redirect her to the map page? How can I achieve this in my controller? Pl. guide.

yariplus

You need to set the returnTo property. This will redirect them back to the mappage route after login.

var Controllers = {};
Controllers.renderMapPage = function (req, res, next) {

        if (!req.uid) {
                req.session.returnTo = '/mappage';
                return res.redirect('/login');
        }

        //Render the templates/map.tpl
	res.render('map', {
             ...
	});
};

cool

Thank you for the reply.

But when I try to browse the plugin map route without logging in, the browser is throwing this error:

ajaxify.js:95 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of undefined
    at ajaxify.js:95
    at Object.success (ajaxify.js:318)
    at c (jquery.js:3317)
    at Object.fireWith [as resolveWith] (jquery.js:3447)
    at C (jquery.js:9272)
    at XMLHttpRequest.<anonymous> (jquery.js:9514)
(anonymous) @ ajaxify.js:95
success @ ajaxify.js:318
c @ jquery.js:3317
fireWith @ jquery.js:3447
C @ jquery.js:9272
(anonymous) @ jquery.js:9514
XMLHttpRequest.send (async)
send @ jquery.js:9566
ajax @ jquery.js:9173
ajaxify.loadData @ ajaxify.js:292
ajaxify.go @ ajaxify.js:85
s @ ajaxify.js:363
(anonymous) @ ajaxify.js:414
dispatch @ jquery.js:5206
g.handle @ jquery.js:5014

yariplus

I see, one step I missed, you need to set some request headers for the API when redirecting a route.

var Controllers = {};
Controllers.renderMapPage = function (req, res, next) {

        if (!req.uid) {
                req.session.returnTo = '/mappage';

                if (res.locals.isAPI) {
                        res.set('X-Redirect', '/login').status(200).json('/login');
                } else {
                        res.redirect('/login');
                }

                return;
        }

        //Render the templates/map.tpl
	res.render('map', {
             ...
	});
};

cool

Thanks it is almost working now. The only exception is that after successful login, it takes me to the Home page with the following URL displayed:
http://localhost:4567/?loggedin=true

and not the /map route.

PitaJ

Just FYI, you can use helpers.redirect as seen here:
https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/blob/master/src/controllers/helpers.js

Used like this:

var helpers = require.main.require('./src/controllers/helpers');

if (whatever) {
  helpers.redirect(wherever);
}

cool

Ok Pita .. I will give it a try. I found an interesting point and I'd like to share it with you:

Cold loading :

User is not logged in, she enters the URL: localhost:4567/map and presses Enter
She is taken to the Login screen and after successful login, she is successfully redirected to the map page.

User is not logged in. She clicks the Map navigation icon, she is taken to the Login screen and after successful login, she is taken to the Home page/URL. Why not to the /map page I am wondering.

Kindly enlighten me.

cool

What I mean to say in the post above is that req.session.returnTo is working properly in case of Cold Load but in the other case, it is not.

yariplus

Hmm,

Try setting this additional header maybe

res.set('X-Redirect', '/login').set('x-return-to', '/mappage').status(200).json('/login');

cool

@pitaj It didn't work. Looks like I am missing something.
@yariplus Neither this header worked. Same problem.

PitaJ

What code did you try?

cool

I tried this code assuming that returnTo or its equivalent property is set by the helpers.redirect (or its associated code down the line) itself.

var helpers = require.main.require('./src/controllers/helpers');
var Controllers = {};

Controllers.renderMapPage = function (req, res, next) {

    if (!req.uid) {
	helpers.redirect(res, '/login');
    }
...
res.reder(...)

Where am I wrong, kindly guide.

yariplus

helpers.redirect does not set returnTo, it does exactly what I had in the verbose code I posted.

You are also missing a return statement after the redirect. That wouldn't cause it not to function, but it will throw an error to the console.

yariplus

Hmm, you are definitely right it doesn't work.

With the way ajaxify.js works, it always returns to the previously visited url, not the one redirected from.

yariplus

Okay, I figured it out, you just have to use helpers.notAllowed (401 status), this stores the previousUrl in ajaxify.js

var helpers = require.main.require('./src/controllers/helpers');
var Controllers = {};
Controllers.renderMapPage = function (req, res, next) {

        if (!req.uid) return helpers.notAllowed(req, res);

        //Render the templates/map.tpl
	res.render('map', {
             ...
	});
};

This will return you to the map page on cold load and ajaxing.

cool

Finally it worked. Thank you very much. Just two points:

a. Ajaxing ends up with this URL:
http://localhost:4567/map?_=1514797485831&loggedin=true

I mean the internal details are visible to the user. An ideal solution is to reset the URL to something like this: localhost:4567/map

b. Suppose I cold load with an invalid URL:
http://localhost:4567/map?loggedin=FALSE

it still renders the map page. Ideally, it should display the "Page Not found message"

Any solution to these two? Or, shall I consider them as "OK let it behave so!"?