Remarks#

This section provides an overview of what firebase-authentication is, and why a developer might want to use it.

It should also mention any large subjects within firebase-authentication, and link out to the related topics. Since the Documentation for firebase-authentication is new, you may need to create initial versions of those related topics.

Installation or Setup

Synopsis

A fully functional demo of Firebase v3 Web authentication viewable here. Sign in with Facebook, Github, Google, Twitter, password based, and anonymous accounts. The code, available on Github, is easy to read and follow and is well documented. The focus is on the fully functional authentication system.

Password based users are sent a validation link. They can also change their email address and password - both of these events send a verification email as an additional security measure.

Lastly, the difference between authentication, client side authorization, and server side authorization secured via Firebase Realtime Database Security Rules is demonstrated.

1. Prerequisites

   1. A Firebase Web project. FREE!
   2. An IDE. What’s an IDE? Try Cloud9. FREE!
   3. A Github, Google, Facebook, and Twitter account. FREE!
   4. Two email accounts. FREE!

2. Configure Your IDE 2. Create an HTML5 project. 3. Install Firebase Tools. npm install -g firebase-tools 4. Using Firebase Tools command line, login to your Firebase project. firebase login --no-localhost 5. Using Firebase Tools command line, setup a Firebase project in the current directory. firebase init 6. Clone this set of files and folders to your IDE. git clone https://github.com/rhroyston/firebase-auth.git 7. Using Firebase Tools command line, push your IDE project to your Firebase project. firebase deploy 8. View Firebase project in your browser. Any broken images or errors? Easy fix below. 8. You may need to update href, src, and background: url in all JS, CSS, and all HTML files depending on your Web hosting folder structure . 1. Use Find feature to search for both href and src and update as necessary. 2. Browser Console will display any remaining incorrect paths errors. 3. Note script.js line 781 privateLink.href = "../firebase-auth/private" the .. seems to be required. 4. Once all pages render properly from Firebase Hosting (no broken images or console errors), continue.

3. Configure Firebase

   1. Enable all 6 forms of authentication. Follow the instructions on configuring social media site settings.
   2. Customize the Email Action Handler URL to point to your Firebase Web app URL + ‘/ack’, e.g. https://my-app-1234/ack.

4. Login to Web app

   1. Login using an oAuth provider.
   2. From the browser command line, use the exposed demo.update('mynode','myKey','myValue') method to add secure markup to your Realtime Database.
      1. A success message will show up in your browser console.
      2. You may need to update the href path to match your folder structure.

   demo.update("markup","secureData","<div class=\"mdl-card__title\"> <h1 class=\"mdl-card__title-text mdl-color-text--white\">Secured Data</h1> </div><div class=\"mdl-card__supporting-text mdl-typography--headline\"> <p>This is a secure card. The HTML markup that renders this card is secured in the Realtime Database.  Access is determined server side so no matter what you do with JavaScript on your browser you will not be able to view this card unless you are authorized to.</p><p>Secured data can be markup, JSON, strings, numbers, etc. Your imagination is the limit!</p></div><div class=\"mdl-card__actions mdl-card--border intro-card-actions\"> <a class=\"mdl-button mdl-button--colored mdl-js-button mdl-js-ripple-effect\" href=\"../firebase-auth/\">Home</a></div>");

Firebase v3 Authentication and Authorization Demo Walkthrough

1. Login using each oAuth provider

   1. Notice that updating email address or password options are not present in your Account page.
   2. Notice any extra links in the side menu drawer?
   3. Try Deleting your account. What Happens?

2. Register as a Password based user

   1. Did you get a verification email?
   2. Can you view private data until you clicked the verification link?
   3. Can you change your password?
   4. Can you change your email address?
   5. Can you undo the email change by clicking the email change notification email revokation link?

3. Logout

   1. What links are present in the side menu drawer?
   2. Can you access private data?
   3. Can you view private data?

How to Create Password Based User

You can use Firebase Authentication to let your users authenticate with Firebase using their email addresses and passwords, and to manage your app’s password-based accounts.

In this example, we use these steps to set it up for our Android project which is based on JavaScript.

But before doing so, this is what needs to get done before:

1. Add Firebase to your JavaScript project.
2. If you haven’t yet connected your app to your Firebase project, do so from the Firebase console.
3. Enable Email/Password sign-in:

In the Firebase console, open the Auth section. On the Sign in method tab, enable the Email/password sign-in method and click Save.

There are 2 auth methods required to create a password based user with displayName, namely .createUserWithEmailAndPassword and .updateProfile. I have nested the latter and created a single function which fires both of these methods for ease of use.

  function registerPasswordUser(email,displayName,password,photoURL){
    var user = null;
    //NULLIFY EMPTY ARGUMENTS
    for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
      arguments[i] = arguments[i] ? arguments[i] : null;
    }
    auth.createUserWithEmailAndPassword(email, password)
    .then(function () {
      user = auth.currentUser;
      user.sendEmailVerification();
    })
    .then(function () {
      user.updateProfile({
        displayName: displayName,
        photoURL: photoURL
      });
    })
    .catch(function(error) {
      console.log(error.message,7000);
    });
    console.log('Validation link was sent to ' + email + '.');
  }