NAME
Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class - A storage class for
Catalyst Authentication using DBIx::Class
VERSION
This documentation refers to version 0.1506.
SYNOPSIS
use Catalyst qw/
Authentication
Authorization::Roles/;
__PACKAGE__->config('Plugin::Authentication' => {
default_realm => 'members',
realms => {
members => {
credential => {
class => 'Password',
password_field => 'password',
password_type => 'clear'
},
store => {
class => 'DBIx::Class',
user_model => 'MyApp::User',
role_relation => 'roles',
role_field => 'rolename',
}
}
}
});
# Log a user in:
sub login : Global {
my ( $self, $ctx ) = @_;
$ctx->authenticate({
screen_name => $ctx->req->params->{username},
password => $ctx->req->params->{password},
status => [ 'registered', 'loggedin', 'active']
}))
}
# verify a role
if ( $ctx->check_user_roles( 'editor' ) ) {
# do editor stuff
}
DESCRIPTION
The Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class class provides access
to authentication information stored in a database via DBIx::Class.
CONFIGURATION
The DBIx::Class authentication store is activated by setting the store
config's class element to DBIx::Class as shown above. See the
Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication documentation for more details on
configuring the store. You can also use
Catalyst::Authentication::Realm::SimpleDB for a simplified setup.
The DBIx::Class storage module has several configuration options
__PACKAGE__->config('Plugin::Authentication' => {
default_realm => 'members',
realms => {
members => {
credential => {
# ...
},
store => {
class => 'DBIx::Class',
user_model => 'MyApp::User',
role_relation => 'roles',
role_field => 'rolename',
ignore_fields_in_find => [ 'remote_name' ],
use_userdata_from_session => 1,
}
}
}
});
class
Class is part of the core Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication module;
it contains the class name of the store to be used.
user_model
Contains the model name (as passed to "$ctx->model()") of the
DBIx::Class schema to use as the source for user information. This
config item is REQUIRED.
(Note that this option used to be called "user_class". "user_class"
is still functional, but should be used only for compatibility with
previous configs. The setting called "user_class" on other
authentication stores is present, but named "store_user_class" in
this store)
role_column
If your role information is stored in the same table as the rest of
your user information, this item tells the module which field
contains your role information. The DBIx::Class authentication store
expects the data in this field to be a series of role names
separated by some combination of spaces, commas, or pipe characters.
role_relation
If your role information is stored in a separate table, this is the
name of the relation that will lead to the roles the user is in. If
this is specified, then a role_field is also required. Also when
using this method it is expected that your role table will return
one row for each role the user is in.
role_field
This is the name of the field in the role table that contains the
string identifying the role.
ignore_fields_in_find
This item is an array containing fields that may be passed to the
"$ctx->authenticate()" routine (and therefore find_user in the
storage class), but which should be ignored when creating the
DBIx::Class search to retrieve a user. This makes it possible to
avoid problems when a credential requires an authinfo element whose
name overlaps with a column name in your users table. If this
doesn't make sense to you, you probably don't need it.
use_userdata_from_session
Under normal circumstances, on each request the user's data is
re-retrieved from the database using the primary key for the user
table. When this flag is set in the configuration, it causes the
DBIx::Class store to avoid this database hit on session restore.
Instead, the user object's column data is retrieved from the session
and used as-is.
NOTE: Since the user object's column data is only stored in the
session during the initial authentication of the user, turning this
on can potentially lead to a situation where the data in
"$ctx->user" is different from what is stored the database. You can
force a reload of the data from the database at any time by calling
"$ctx->user->get_object(1);" Note that this will update "$ctx->user"
for the remainder of this request. It will NOT update the session.
If you need to update the session you should call
"$ctx->update_user_in_session()" as well.
store_user_class
This allows you to override the authentication user class that the
DBIx::Class store module uses to perform its work. Most of the work
done in this module is actually done by the user class,
Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class::User, so overriding
this doesn't make much sense unless you are using your own class to
extend the functionality of the existing class. Chances are you do
not want to set this.
id_field
In most cases, this config variable does not need to be set, as
Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class will determine the
primary key of the user table on its own. If you need to override
the default, or your user table has multiple primary keys, then
id_field should contain the column name that should be used to
restore the user. A given value in this column should correspond to
a single user in the database. Note that this is used ONLY when
restoring a user from the session and has no bearing whatsoever in
the initial authentication process. Note also that if
use_userdata_from_session is enabled, this config parameter is not
used at all.
USAGE
The Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class storage module is not
called directly from application code. You interface with it through the
$ctx->authenticate() call.
There are three methods you can use to retrieve information from the
DBIx::Class storage module. They are Simple retrieval, and the advanced
retrieval methods Searchargs and Resultset.
Simple Retrieval
The first, and most common, method is simple retrieval. As its name
implies simple retrieval allows you to simply to provide the column =>
value pairs that should be used to locate the user in question. An
example of this usage is below:
if ($ctx->authenticate({
screen_name => $ctx->req->params->{'username'},
password => $ctx->req->params->{'password'},
status => [ 'registered', 'active', 'loggedin']
})) {
# ... authenticated user code here
}
The above example would attempt to retrieve a user whose username column
(here, screen_name) matched the username provided, and whose status
column matched one of the values provided. These name => value pairs are
used more or less directly in the DBIx::Class search() routine, so in
most cases, you can use DBIx::Class syntax to retrieve the user
according to whatever rules you have.
NOTE: Because the password in most cases is encrypted - it is not used
directly but its encryption and comparison with the value provided is
usually handled by the Password Credential. Part of the Password
Credential's behavior is to remove the password argument from the
authinfo that is passed to the storage module. See
Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Password.
One thing you need to know about this retrieval method is that the name
portion of the pair is checked against the user class's column list.
Pairs are only used if a matching column is found. Other pairs will be
ignored. This means that you can only provide simple name-value pairs,
and that some more advanced DBIx::Class constructs, such as '-or',
'-and', etc. are in most cases not possible using this method. For
queries that require this level of functionality, see the 'searchargs'
method below.
Advanced Retrieval
The Searchargs and Resultset retrieval methods are used when more
advanced features of the underlying DBIx::Class schema are required.
These methods provide a direct interface with the DBIx::Class schema and
therefore require a better understanding of the DBIx::Class module.
The dbix_class key
Since the format of these arguments are often complex, they are not keys
in the base authinfo hash. Instead, both of these arguments are placed
within a hash attached to the store-specific 'dbix_class' key in the
base $authinfo hash. When the DBIx::Class authentication store sees the
'dbix_class' key in the passed authinfo hash, all the other information
in the authinfo hash is ignored and only the values within the
'dbix_class' hash are used as though they were passed directly within
the authinfo hash. In other words, if 'dbix_class' is present, it
replaces the authinfo hash for processing purposes.
The 'dbix_class' hash can be used to directly pass arguments to the
DBIx::Class authentication store. Reasons to do this are to avoid
credential modification of the authinfo hash, or to avoid overlap
between credential and store key names. It's a good idea to avoid using
it in this way unless you are sure you have an overlap/modification
issue. However, the two advanced retrieval methods, searchargs, result
and resultset, require its use, as they are only processed as part of
the 'dbix_class' hash.
Searchargs
The searchargs method of retrieval allows you to specify an arrayref
containing the two arguments to the search() method from
DBIx::Class::ResultSet. If provided, all other args are ignored, and
the search args provided are used directly to locate the user. An
example will probably make more sense:
if ($ctx->authenticate(
{
password => $password,
'dbix_class' =>
{
searchargs => [ { -or => [ username => $username,
email => $email,
clientid => $clientid ]
},
{ prefetch => qw/ preferences / }
]
}
} ) )
{
# do successful authentication actions here.
}
The above would allow authentication based on any of the three items
- username, email, or clientid - and would prefetch the data related
to that user from the preferences table. The searchargs array is
passed directly to the search() method associated with the
user_model.
Result
The result method of retrieval allows you to look up the user
yourself and pass on the loaded user to the authentication store.
my $user = $ctx->model('MyApp::User')->find({ ... });
if ($ctx->authenticate({ dbix_class => { result => $user } })) {
...
}
Be aware that the result method will not verify that you are passing
a result that is attached to the same user_model as specified in the
config or even loaded from the database, as opposed to existing only
in memory. It's your responsibility to make sure of that.
Resultset
The resultset method of retrieval allows you to directly specify a
resultset to be used for user retrieval. This allows you to create a
resultset within your login action and use it for retrieving the
user. A simple example:
my $rs = $ctx->model('MyApp::User')->search({ email => $ctx->request->params->{'email'} });
... # further $rs adjustments
if ($ctx->authenticate({
password => $password,
'dbix_class' => { resultset => $rs }
})) {
# do successful authentication actions here.
}
Be aware that the resultset method will not verify that you are
passing a resultset that is attached to the same user_model as
specified in the config.
NOTE: The resultset and searchargs methods of user retrieval,
consider the first row returned to be the matching user. In most
cases there will be only one matching row, but it is easy to produce
multiple rows, especially when using the advanced retrieval methods.
Remember, what you get when you use this module is what you would
get when calling search(...)->first;
NOTE ALSO: The user info used to save the user to the session and to
retrieve it is the same regardless of what method of retrieval was
used. In short, the value in the id field (see 'id_field' config
item) is used to retrieve the user from the database upon restoring
from the session. When the DBIx::Class storage module does this, it
does so by doing a simple search using the id field. In other words,
it will not use the same arguments you used to request the user
initially. This is especially important to those using the advanced
methods of user retrieval. If you need more complicated logic when
reviving the user from the session, you will most likely want to
subclass the Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class::User
class and provide your own for_session and from_session routines.
METHODS
There are no publicly exported routines in the DBIx::Class
authentication store (or indeed in most authentication stores). However,
below is a description of the routines required by
Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication for all authentication stores. Please
see the documentation for Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Internals
for more information.
new ( $config, $app )
Constructs a new store object.
find_user ( $authinfo, $c )
Finds a user using the information provided in the $authinfo hashref and
returns the user, or undef on failure. This is usually called from the
Credential. This translates directly to a call to
Catalyst::Authentication::Store::DBIx::Class::User's load() method.
for_session ( $c, $user )
Prepares a user to be stored in the session. Currently returns the value
of the user's id field (as indicated by the 'id_field' config element)
from_session ( $c, $frozenuser)
Revives a user from the session based on the info provided in
$frozenuser. Currently treats $frozenuser as an id and retrieves a user
with a matching id.
user_supports
Provides information about what the user object supports.
auto_update_user( $authinfo, $c, $res )
This method is called if the realm's auto_update_user setting is true.
It will delegate to the user object's "auto_update" method.
auto_create_user( $authinfo, $c )
This method is called if the realm's auto_create_user setting is true.
It will delegate to the user class's (resultset) "auto_create" method.
NOTES
As of the current release, session storage consists of simply storing
the user's id in the session, and then using that same id to re-retrieve
the user's information from the database upon restoration from the
session. More dynamic storage of user information in the session is
intended for a future release.
BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
None known currently; please email the author if you find any.
SEE ALSO
Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication,
Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Internals, and
Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization::Roles
AUTHOR
Jason Kuri (jayk@cpan.org)
LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2007 the aforementioned authors. All rights reserved. This
program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.