tala-express

A lightweight nodejs package for adding authorization system on your express app.

Installation

Install this package with npm or yarn

  npm install tala-express
  yarn add tala-express

Function Reference

setTala

Initializes the tala.

  setTala(dbConn, configuration);

Parameter	Type	Description
dbConn	object	Required. mysql2 connection or pool, or mongoose
configuration	object	Required. Options are described in the configuration section

genToken

Generates token for an user. Use this to generate token after login is succeed. This token needs to be sent as Authorization header or cookie to verify a request.

  genToken(req, userId);

Parameter	Type	Description
req	object	Required. Current request object of express
userId	int or string	Required. For whom the token will be generated

ensureUser

This function returns a middleware that makes sure a request is authorized. And if it's authorized then adds userId, accessToken and user attributes to the request object. user attribute will be populated from userModel table (mysql) or model(mongoose) provided in the configuration object.

  ensureUser(callback, ignores);

Parameter	Type	Description
callback	object	Required. The function to be called when a request is not authorized
ignores	string, array, regex	Routes, for which this check can be omitted

• callback: this function will recieve two arguments, reqand res
• ignores: string, regex or array of both to ignore this check for

  app.use(ensureUser((req, res)=>{
    res.status(401).send('Unauthoried request.');
  }, ['/login', '/register']));

revokeToken (async)

Removes a token from the database.

• Returns nothing of success, and throws error on failure.

  revokeToken(userId, token)

Parameter	Type	Description
userId	string or int	Required. User id of the token
token	string	Required. The token to be removed

getOfUser (async)

Returns an array of tokens that the given user posseses.

• Throws error on failure

  getOfUser(userId, page);

Parameter	Type	Description
userId	string or int	Required. User id of the user
page	int	Page number for pagination

getOfToken (async)

Returns an array of users that a token posseses. This is helpful for logging into multiple accounts from a single device.

• Throws error on failure

  getOfToken(token, page);

Parameter	Type	Description
token	string	Required. The token
page	int	Page number for pagination

Usage

  import { createPool } from 'mysql2/promise';
  import { setTala, genToken, ensureUser, attachUser } from 'tala-express';
  import express from 'express';

  const dbConn = createPool({
    host: "localhost",
    user: "root",
    password: "",
    database: "test",
  });
  setTala(dbConn, {
      promise: true
  });

  const app = express();
  
  const authChecker = ensureUser(
    (req, res)=>{
      /**
      * This will get called if user is not authorized
      */
      res.status(401).send('Unauthorized request!');
    },
    '/login' /* Paths to be skipped from this check. array, string or regex */
  );

  const authCheckerApi = ensureUser(
    (req, res)=>{
      res.status(401).send({
        success: false,
        error: 'Unauthorized request!'
      });
    },
    ['/api/login', '/api/register', /^\/api\/guest\//]
  );

  app.use(/^(?!\/api\/)/, authChecker);
  app.use(/^(\/api\/)/, authCheckerApi);

  app.post('/login', (req, res)=>{
      if(req.userId){
          //User is already logged in;
          res.send(req.user);
          return;
      }
      //DO your password check
      const token = genToken(req, user_id);
      //Either you can set this as cookie or send with request header
  });

  app.listen(3000, ()=>{
      console.log('Server started at port 3000');
  });

Configuration Options

  setTala(dbConnection, { //mysql2 connection or pool
    promise: false, //true if connection is promise (mysql2 only)

    cookie: {
        name: 'user_key',
        signed: false //true if cookies are signed
    },

    header: 'Authorization', //The header name by which token will be sent

    /**
    * Provide table name for mysql2 or model for mongoose to
    * add a user property containing user info in req object
    */
    userModel: false,

    /**
    * coloumn names or fields you want to get from users table
    * In case of mysql2 provide array of fields
    * or a direct string as: "full_name as name, COUNT(id) AS any_count"
    * And in case of mongoose provide space separated names as: "name age another_field"
    */
    populate: false,
    
    /**
    * coloumn names or fields you want to get from users table
    * In case of mysql2 provide array of fields
    * or a direct string as: "full_name as name, COUNT(id) AS any_count"
    * And in case of mongoose provide space separated names as: "name age another_field"
    */

    foreignKey: 'id', //id column name in the userModel table
  });