Ionic SDK
Guide on how to use Authgear in an Ionic project
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Guide on how to use Authgear in an Ionic project
Last updated
Was this helpful?
In this post, you'll learn how to use Authgear with your Ionic project using the Authgear Ionic SDK.
At the end of this tutorial, we'll build an Ionic app that can do the following:
Allow users to log in to their account on your Authgear project
Allow new users to sign up
Allow signed-in users to view their user info and logout.
The final UI for the app we'll build should look like this:
To follow this guide seamlessly, make sure to have the following:
Node.js installed on your local machine
Android Studio (for building the Android client of your application)
X-code (for building the iOS client of your application)
An Authgear account. You can sign up for one for free here.
Any code editor (VS Code, Sublime, etc)
Now let us get into the steps for using Authgear in an Ionic project.
In this part, you'll learn how to configure an Authgear application so that you can use it in your Ionic project. You'll do this by performing the following steps in the Authgear Portal.
First, log in to Authgear Portal at https://portal.authgear.com/ and select an existing project or create a new one.
In your project, navigate to the Applications section then click on Add Application to create a new Authgear application. Enter a name for your application and select Native App as the Application Type. Next, click Save to continue to the configuration page for your new application.
In this step, you'll set up authorized redirect URIs for your application. An authorized redirect URI should be a URI pointing to a page on your Ionic app where you want to redirect users at the end of the authorization flow.
To add a URI, scroll to the URIs section of your application configuration page and enter the URI in the text field. You can click the Add URI button to add additional URIs.
For our example app, add the following URIs:
com.authgear.example.capacitor://host/path
capacitor://localhost
http://localhost:8100/oauth-redirect
https://localhost
Once you're done, click on the Save button.
Now that we have our Authgear application configured, we can now proceed with creating the Ionic application that will have all the features stated in our objective earlier.
For this tutorial, we'll be implementing an Ionic app using React.
Before you can create an Ionic project, install the Ionic CLI on your computer by running the following command in Terminal or Command Prompt:
npm install -g @ionic/cli native-run cordova-res
Now create a new Ionic project by running the following command:
ionic start authgear-ionic-example --type=react --capacitor
After running the above command, follow the wizard to create a new blank project.
Next, open your new project in a code editor and update for appId
in capacitor.config.ts to the following value:
appId: 'com.authgear.example.capacitor',
This new value for appId
is the same value we used in the authorized redirect URI earlier.
Note: It is important that you update the value for appId
before you create the Android and iOS projects for your Ionic application. Doing this will enable Capacitor to create your Android and iOS project with the value for appId as the package name and app ID.
You can run the ionic serve
command to preview your new blank project on a browser.
Finally, create the Android and iOS projects for your app by running the following commands from your Ionic project's root folder:
First, install the Android and iOS platforms:
npm i @capacitor/android @capacitor/ios
Then, create the projects:
npx cap add android
npx cap add ios
In this step, you'll install the Authgear SDK for Ionic (Capacitor) and the Javascript SDK for the web. The web SDK will help you test your application on a web browser.
To install the SDKs, run the following commands in your Terminal or Command Prompt:
Authgear Ionic SDK
npm i @authgear/capacitor
Authgear Web SDK
npm i @authgear/web
In this step, you'll learn how to configure your Ionic project using the details from your Authgear application configuration.
To get started, open src/pages/Home.tsx in your code editor and import the Authgear SDK by adding the following code to the top of the file:
import authgearWeb, {
SessionState,
CancelError as WebCancelError,
UserInfo,
} from "@authgear/web";
import authgearCapacitor, {
CancelError as CapacitorCancelError,
} from "@authgear/capacitor";
The above code imports all the components of the Authgear SDK we need for our example app.
Because Ionic apps can run on the web and native mobile platforms, we have to import both Authgear web and Authgear Capacitor SDKs.
Next, add the following constants to Home.tsx just below the last import statement:
const CLIENT_ID = "";
const ENDPOINT = "";
const REDIRECT_URI_WEB_AUTHENTICATE = "http://localhost:8100/oauth-redirect";
const REDIRECT_URI_CAPACITOR = "com.authgear.example.capacitor://host/path";
const REDIRECT_URI_WEB_REAUTH = "http://localhost:8100/reauth-redirect";
Update the values for the constants (CLIENT_ID
, ENDPOINT
) you just added to the correct values from your application's configuration page in the Authgear Portal.
Also, add this small utility function that will help to check whether your Ionic app is running natively or on a web browser:
function isPlatformWeb(): boolean {
return Capacitor.getPlatform() === "web";
}
Now implement a new AuthenticationScreen
component in Home.tsx by pasting the following code:
function AuthenticationScreen() {
const [isAlertOpen, setIsAlertOpen] = useState(false);
const [alertHeader, setAlertHeader] = useState("");
const [alertMessage, setAlertMessage] = useState("");
const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false);
const [initialized, setInitialized] = useState(false);
const showError = useCallback((e: any) => {
const json = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(e));
json["constructor.name"] = e?.constructor?.name;
json["message"] = e?.message;
let message = JSON.stringify(json);
if (e instanceof WebCancelError || e instanceof CapacitorCancelError) {
// Cancel is not an error actually.
return;
}
setIsAlertOpen(true);
setAlertHeader("Error");
setAlertMessage(message);
}, []);
const postConfigure = useCallback(async () => {
const sessionState = isPlatformWeb()
? authgearWeb.sessionState
: authgearCapacitor.sessionState;
if (sessionState !== "AUTHENTICATED") {
setInitialized(true);
return;
}
if (isPlatformWeb()) {
await authgearWeb.fetchUserInfo();
} else {
await authgearCapacitor.fetchUserInfo();
}
setInitialized(true);
}, []);
const configure = useCallback(async () => {
setLoading(true);
try {
if (isPlatformWeb()) {
await authgearWeb.configure({
clientID: CLIENT_ID,
endpoint: ENDPOINT,
sessionType: "refresh_token",
isSSOEnabled: false,
});
} else {
await authgearCapacitor.configure({
clientID: CLIENT_ID,
endpoint: ENDPOINT
});
}
await postConfigure();
} catch (e) {
showError(e);
} finally {
setLoading(false);
}
}, [
CLIENT_ID,
ENDPOINT
]);
}
Here, we'll implement an authenticate()
method inside the AuthenticationScreen
component we created in the previous step.
To do this, first, add the following constants that the method will depend on to the top of AuthenticationScreen
component:
const [page, setPage] = useState("");
const [sessionState, setSessionState] = useState<SessionState | null>(() => {
if (isPlatformWeb()) {
return authgearWeb.sessionState;
}
return authgearCapacitor.sessionState;
});
const loggedIn = sessionState === "AUTHENTICATED";
Then, add the authenticate()
method by pasting the following code to the end of the AuthenticationScreen
component:
const authenticate = useCallback(async (page: string) => {
setLoading(true);
try {
if (isPlatformWeb()) {
authgearWeb.startAuthentication({
redirectURI: REDIRECT_URI_WEB_AUTHENTICATE,
page: page,
});
} else {
const result = await authgearCapacitor.authenticate({
redirectURI: REDIRECT_URI_CAPACITOR,
page: page,
});
showUserInfo(result.userInfo);
}
} catch (e) {
showError(e);
} finally {
setLoading(false);
}
}, [showUserInfo, page]);
Calling this authenticate()
method will initialize an authentication flow. The page
parameter can be used to specify whether to start the authentication flow on the login page or signup page.
At the end of an authentication flow, your users will be redirected to the URL you specified in redirectURI
. In this step, we'll set up the routes and code to process redirects to the URIs.
First, create a new file OAuthRedirect.tsx in src/pages/ and add the following code to it:
import { useCallback, useEffect } from "react";
import authgearWeb from "@authgear/web";
import { useIonRouter } from "@ionic/react";
export default function OAuthRedirect() {
const router = useIonRouter();
const finishAuthentication = useCallback(async () => {
const CLIENT_ID = "";
const ENDPOINT = "";
try {
await authgearWeb.configure({
clientID: CLIENT_ID,
endpoint: ENDPOINT,
sessionType: "refresh_token",
});
await authgearWeb.finishAuthentication();
router.push("/", "root", "replace");
} catch (e) {
console.error(e);
}
}, [router]);
useEffect(() => {
finishAuthentication();
}, [finishAuthentication]);
return (
<div>
Finishing authentication. Open the inspector to see if there is any error.
</div>
);
}
Change the values for CLIENT_ID
and ENDPOINT
in the above code to the correct value from your Authgear application configuration page.
Now open src/App.tsx and create a new route for OAuthRedirect
using the following code:
<Route exact path="/oauth-redirect">
<OAuthRedirect />
</Route>
Remember to import OAuthRedirect
in App.tsx.
To handle redirect in the Android project, add the following code to android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:
<!-- Authgear SDK -->
<activity
android:name="com.authgear.capacitor.OAuthRedirectActivity"
android:launchMode="singleTask"
android:exported="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
<!-- Configure data to be the exact redirect URI your app uses. -->
<!-- NOTE: The redirectURI supplied in AuthenticateOptions has to match as well -->
<data
android:host="host"
android:pathPrefix="/path"
android:scheme="com.authgear.example.capacitor" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
At this point, you will create the User Interface for the AuthenticationScreen component.
To do that, add the following code to the end of the AuthenticationScreen
component method:
const fetchUserInfo = useCallback(async () => {
setLoading(true);
try {
if (isPlatformWeb()) {
const userInfo = await authgearWeb.fetchUserInfo();
showUserInfo(userInfo);
} else {
const userInfo = await authgearCapacitor.fetchUserInfo();
showUserInfo(userInfo);
}
} catch (e) {
showError(e);
} finally {
setLoading(false);
}
}, [showError, showUserInfo]);
const logout = useCallback(async () => {
setLoading(true);
try {
if (isPlatformWeb()) {
await authgearWeb.logout({
redirectURI: window.location.origin + "/",
});
} else {
await authgearCapacitor.logout();
}
} catch (e) {
showError(e);
} finally {
setLoading(false);
}
}, [showError]);
// On web, it is more natural to configure automatically if client ID and endpoint are filled in.
useEffect(() => {
configure();
// eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
}, []);
const onAlertDismiss = useCallback(
(_e: IonAlertCustomEvent<OverlayEventDetail>) => {
setIsAlertOpen(false);
},
[]
);
const onClickAuthenticate = useCallback(
(e: MouseEvent<HTMLIonButtonElement>, page: string) => {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopPropagation();
authenticate(page);
},
[authenticate]
);
const onClickFetchUserInfo = useCallback(
(e: MouseEvent<HTMLIonButtonElement>) => {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopPropagation();
fetchUserInfo();
},
[fetchUserInfo]
);
const onClickLogout = useCallback(
(e: MouseEvent<HTMLIonButtonElement>) => {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopPropagation();
logout();
},
[logout]
);
return (
<>
<IonAlert
isOpen={isAlertOpen}
header={alertHeader}
message={alertMessage}
onIonAlertDidDismiss={onAlertDismiss}
/>
<div className="container">
<h1>
Welcome
</h1>
<p>Tap any of the buttons to below to login or signup</p>
<IonButton
className="button"
disabled={!initialized || loading || loggedIn}
onClick={
(event) => {
setPage("signup");
onClickAuthenticate(event, "login")
}
}
>
Login
</IonButton>
<IonButton
className="button"
disabled={!initialized || loading || loggedIn}
onClick={(event) => {
onClickAuthenticate(event, "signup")
}}
>
Signup
</IonButton>
<IonButton
className="button"
disabled={!initialized || loading || !loggedIn}
onClick={onClickFetchUserInfo}
>
Fetch User Info
</IonButton>
<IonButton
className="button"
disabled={!initialized || loading || !loggedIn}
onClick={onClickLogout}
>
Logout
</IonButton>
</div>
</>
);
To deploy your app to a mobile device (for example Android) run the following commands:
First build your project by running:
npm run build
Then sync the changes to the mobile project using this command:
npx cap sync
You can run the project by opening the android
project folder in Android Studio or ios
folder in X-code.
You can quickly open the project in Android Studio using the following command:
npx cap open android
Once your project builds successfully, you can try the Login, Signup, Fetch User Info, and Logout buttons.
Authgear Capacitor SDK makes it easier to use Authgear in your Ionic application. It provides many helpful methods and interfaces for interacting with the Authgear service from your Ionic application. To learn more about the SDK check the SDK Reference. Also, check out the complete repo for the Authgear Ionic SDK example app here.