javascript - How to handle Authentication with react-router?

Question

Trying to make certain routes require Authentication.

I have this:

class App extends Component {
  render() {
    const menuClass = `${this.props.contentMenuClass} col-xs-12 col-md-9`;
    return (  
      <BrowserRouter history={browserHistory}>
        <div className="App">
          <Header properties={this.props} />
            <div className="container-fluid">
              <div className="row">
                <SideNav />
                <div className={menuClass} id="mainContent">
                  <Switch>
                    {routes.map(prop =>
                        (
                          <Route
                            path={prop.path}
                            component={prop.component}
                            key={prop.id}
                            render={() => (
                              !AuthenticationService.IsAutheenticated() ? 
                                <Redirect to="/Login"/>
                               : 
                               <Route path={prop.path}
                               component={prop.component}
                               key={prop.id}/>

                            )}
                          />
                        ))}
                  </Switch>
                </div>
              </div>
            </div>
          {/* <Footer /> */}

        </div>

      </BrowserRouter>
    );
  }
}

const mapStateToProps = state => ({
  contentMenuClass: state.menu,
});

export default connect(mapStateToProps)(App);

Note: Yes the auth service works as it should.

For every route I am checking if the user is authenticated, if not then I want to redirect them to the login page, if they are then it will land on the first page with the route of "/".

All I am getting is:

react-dom.development.js:14227 The above error occurred in the <Route> component:
    in Route (created by App)
    in Switch (created by App)
    in div (created by App)
    in div (created by App)
    in div (created by App)
    in div (created by App)
    in Router (created by BrowserRouter)
    in BrowserRouter (created by App)
    in App (created by Connect(App))
    in Connect(App)
    in Provider

Where am I doing this wrong?

Answer 1

A simple solution would be to make a HOC (High Order Component) that wraps all protected routes.

Depending upon how nested your app is, you may want to utilize local state or redux state.

Working example: https://codesandbox.io/s/5m2690nn6n (this uses local state)

routes/index.js

import React from "react";
import { BrowserRouter, Switch, Route } from "react-router-dom";
import Home from "../components/Home";
import Players from "../components/Players";
import Schedule from "../components/Schedule";
import RequireAuth from "../components/RequireAuth";

export default () => (
  <BrowserRouter>
    <RequireAuth>
      <Switch>
        <Route exact path="/" component={Home} />
        <Route exact path="/players" component={Players} />
        <Route path="/schedule" component={Schedule} />
      </Switch>
    </RequireAuth>
  </BrowserRouter>
);

components/RequireAuth.js

import React, { Component, Fragment } from "react";
import { withRouter } from "react-router-dom";
import Login from "./Login";
import Header from "./Header";

class RequireAuth extends Component {
  state = { isAuthenticated: false };

  componentDidMount = () => {
    if (!this.state.isAuthenticated) {
      this.props.history.push("/");
    }
  };

  componentDidUpdate = (prevProps, prevState) => {
    if (
      this.props.location.pathname !== prevProps.location.pathname &&
      !this.state.isAuthenticated
    ) {
      this.props.history.push("/");
    }
  };

  isAuthed = () => this.setState({ isAuthenticated: true });

  unAuth = () => this.setState({ isAuthenticated: false });

  render = () =>
    !this.state.isAuthenticated ? (
      <Login isAuthed={this.isAuthed} />
    ) : (
      <Fragment>
        <Header unAuth={this.unAuth} />
        {this.props.children}
      </Fragment>
    );
}

export default withRouter(RequireAuth);

---

Or, instead of wrapping routes, you can create a protected component that houses protected routes.

Working example: https://codesandbox.io/s/yqo75n896x (uses redux instead of local state).

routes/index.js

import React from "react";
import { BrowserRouter, Route, Switch } from "react-router-dom";
import { createStore } from "redux";
import { Provider } from "react-redux";
import Home from "../components/Home";
import Header from "../containers/Header";
import Info from "../components/Info";
import Sponsors from "../components/Sponsors";
import Signin from "../containers/Signin";
import RequireAuth from "../containers/RequireAuth";
import rootReducer from "../reducers";

const store = createStore(rootReducer);

export default () => (
  <Provider store={store}>
    <BrowserRouter>
      <div>
        <Header />
        <Switch>
          <Route exact path="/" component={Home} />
          <Route path="/info" component={Info} />
          <Route path="/sponsors" component={Sponsors} />
          <Route path="/protected" component={RequireAuth} />
          <Route path="/signin" component={Signin} />
        </Switch>
      </div>
    </BrowserRouter>
  </Provider>
);

containers/RequireAuth.js

import React from "react";
import { Route, Redirect } from "react-router-dom";
import { connect } from "react-redux";
import ShowPlayerRoster from "../components/ShowPlayerRoster";
import ShowPlayerStats from "../components/ShowPlayerStats";
import Schedule from "../components/Schedule";

const RequireAuth = ({ match: { path }, isAuthenticated }) =>
  !isAuthenticated ? (
    <Redirect to="/signin" />
  ) : (
    <div>
      <Route exact path={`${path}/roster`} component={ShowPlayerRoster} />
      <Route path={`${path}/roster/:id`} component={ShowPlayerStats} />
      <Route path={`${path}/schedule`} component={Schedule} />
    </div>
  );

export default connect(state => ({
  isAuthenticated: state.auth.isAuthenticated
}))(RequireAuth);

---

You can even get more modular by creating a wrapper function. You would be able to pick and choose any route by simply wrapping over the component. I don't have a codebox example, but it would be similar to this setup.

For example: <Route path="/blog" component={RequireAuth(Blog)} />