3 Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authentication - Catalyst Tutorial - Part 4: Authentication
8 This is B<Part 4 of 9> for the Catalyst tutorial.
10 L<Tutorial Overview|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial>
16 L<Introduction|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Intro>
20 L<Catalyst Basics|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::CatalystBasics>
24 L<Basic CRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial_BasicCRUD>
32 L<Authorization|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Authorization>
36 L<Debugging|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Debugging>
40 L<Testing|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Testing>
44 L<AdvancedCRUD|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::AdvancedCRUD>
48 L<Appendices|Catalyst::Manual::Tutorial::Appendicies>
55 Now that we finally have a simple yet functional application, we can
56 focus on providing authentication (with authorization coming next in
59 This part of the tutorial is divided into two main sections: 1) basic,
60 cleartext authentication and 2) hash-based authentication.
62 B<TIP>: Note that all of the code for this part of the tutorial can be
63 pulled from the Catalyst Subversion repository in one step with the
66 svn checkout http://dev.catalyst.perl.org/repos/Catalyst/trunk/examples/Tutorial@###
67 IMPORTANT: Does not work yet. Will be completed for final version.
70 =head1 BASIC AUTHENTICATION
72 This section explores how to add authentication logic to a Catalyst
75 =head2 Add Users and Roles to the Database
77 First, we add both user and role information to the database (we will
78 add the role information here although it will not be used until the
79 authorization section, Part 5). Create a new SQL script file by opening
80 C<myapp02.sql> in your editor and insert:
83 -- Add users and roles tables, along with a many-to-many join table
86 id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
95 id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
98 CREATE TABLE user_roles (
101 PRIMARY KEY (user_id, role_id)
104 -- Load up some initial test data
106 INSERT INTO users VALUES (1, 'test01', 'mypass', 't01@na.com', 'Joe', 'Blow', 1);
107 INSERT INTO users VALUES (2, 'test02', 'mypass', 't02@na.com', 'Jane', 'Doe', 1);
108 INSERT INTO users VALUES (3, 'test03', 'mypass', 't03@na.com', 'No', 'Go', 0);
109 INSERT INTO roles VALUES (1, 'user');
110 INSERT INTO roles VALUES (2, 'admin');
111 INSERT INTO user_roles VALUES (1, 1);
112 INSERT INTO user_roles VALUES (1, 2);
113 INSERT INTO user_roles VALUES (2, 1);
114 INSERT INTO user_roles VALUES (3, 1);
116 Then load this into the C<myapp.db> database with the following command:
118 $ sqlite3 myapp.db < myapp02.sql
121 =head2 Add User and Role Information to DBIC Schema
123 This step adds DBIC-based classes for the user-related database tables
124 (the role information will not be used until Part 5):
126 Edit C<lib/MyAppDB.pm> and update the contents to match (only the
127 C<MyAppDB =E<gt> [qw/Book BookAuthor Author User UserRole Role/]> line
134 MyAppDB -- DBIC Schema Class
138 # Our schema needs to inherit from 'DBIx::Class::Schema'
139 use base qw/DBIx::Class::Schema/;
141 # Need to load the DB Model classes here.
142 # You can use this syntax if you want:
143 # __PACKAGE__->load_classes(qw/Book BookAuthor Author User UserRole Role/);
144 # Also, if you simply want to load all of the classes in a directory
145 # of the same name as your schema class (as we do here) you can use:
146 # __PACKAGE__->load_classes(qw//);
147 # But the variation below is more flexible in that it can be used to
148 # load from multiple namespaces.
149 __PACKAGE__->load_classes({
150 MyAppDB => [qw/Book BookAuthor Author User UserRole Role/]
156 =head2 Create New "Result Source Objects"
158 Create the following three files with the content shown below.
160 C<lib/MyAppDB/User.pm>:
162 package MyAppDB::User;
164 use base qw/DBIx::Class/;
166 # Load required DBIC stuff
167 __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/PK::Auto Core/);
169 __PACKAGE__->table('users');
170 # Set columns in table
171 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/id username password email_address first_name last_name/);
172 # Set the primary key for the table
173 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('id');
181 # 1) Name of relationship, DBIC will create accessor with this name
182 # 2) Name of the model class referenced by this relationship
183 # 3) Column name in *foreign* table
184 __PACKAGE__->has_many(map_user_role => 'MyAppDB::UserRole', 'user_id');
189 MyAppDB::User - A model object representing a person with access to the system.
193 This is an object that represents a row in the 'users' table of your application
194 database. It uses DBIx::Class (aka, DBIC) to do ORM.
196 For Catalyst, this is designed to be used through MyApp::Model::MyAppDB.
197 Offline utilities may wish to use this class directly.
204 C<lib/MyAppDB/Role.pm>:
206 package MyAppDB::Role;
208 use base qw/DBIx::Class/;
210 # Load required DBIC stuff
211 __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/PK::Auto Core/);
213 __PACKAGE__->table('roles');
214 # Set columns in table
215 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/id role/);
216 # Set the primary key for the table
217 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('id');
225 # 1) Name of relationship, DBIC will create accessor with this name
226 # 2) Name of the model class referenced by this relationship
227 # 3) Column name in *foreign* table
228 __PACKAGE__->has_many(map_user_role => 'MyAppDB::UserRole', 'role_id');
233 MyAppDB::Role - A model object representing a class of access permissions to
238 This is an object that represents a row in the 'roles' table of your
239 application database. It uses DBIx::Class (aka, DBIC) to do ORM.
241 For Catalyst, this is designed to be used through MyApp::Model::MyAppDB.
242 "Offline" utilities may wish to use this class directly.
249 C<lib/MyAppDB/UserRole.pm>:
251 package MyAppDB::UserRole;
253 use base qw/DBIx::Class/;
255 # Load required DBIC stuff
256 __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/PK::Auto Core/);
258 __PACKAGE__->table('user_roles');
259 # Set columns in table
260 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/user_id role_id/);
261 # Set the primary key for the table
262 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key(qw/user_id role_id/);
270 # 1) Name of relationship, DBIC will create accessor with this name
271 # 2) Name of the model class referenced by this relationship
272 # 3) Column name in *this* table
273 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to(user => 'MyAppDB::User', 'user_id');
277 # 1) Name of relationship, DBIC will create accessor with this name
278 # 2) Name of the model class referenced by this relationship
279 # 3) Column name in *this* table
280 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to(role => 'MyAppDB::Role', 'role_id');
285 MyAppDB::UserRole - A model object representing the JOIN between Users and Roles.
289 This is an object that represents a row in the 'user_roles' table of your application
290 database. It uses DBIx::Class (aka, DBIC) to do ORM.
292 You probably won't need to use this class directly -- it will be automatically
293 used by DBIC where joins are needed.
295 For Catalyst, this is designed to be used through MyApp::Model::MyAppDB.
296 Offline utilities may wish to use this class directly.
302 The code for these three result source classes is obviously very familiar to the C<Book>, C<Author>, and C<BookAuthor> classes created in Part 2.
305 =head2 Sanity-Check Reload of Development Server
307 We aren't ready to try out the authentication just yet; we only want to do a quick check to be sure our model loads correctly. Press C<Ctrl-C> to kill the previous server instance (if it's still running) and restart it:
309 $ script/myapp_server.pl
311 Look for the three new model objects in the startup debug output:
314 .-------------------------------------------------------------------+----------.
316 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+----------+
317 | MyApp::Controller::Books | instance |
318 | MyApp::Controller::Root | instance |
319 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB | instance |
320 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::Author | class |
321 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::Book | class |
322 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::BookAuthor | class |
323 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::Role | class |
324 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::User | class |
325 | MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::UserRole | class |
326 | MyApp::View::TT | instance |
327 '-------------------------------------------------------------------+----------'
330 Again, notice that your "result source" classes have been "re-loaded" by Catalyst under C<MyApp::Model>.
333 =head2 Include Authentication and Session Plugins
335 Edit C<lib/MyApp.pm> and update it as follows (everything below C<DefaultEnd> is new):
347 Authentication::Store::DBIC
348 Authentication::Credential::Password
351 Session::Store::FastMmap
352 Session::State::Cookie
355 The three C<Authentication> plugins work together to support
356 Authentication while the C<Session> plugins are required to maintain
357 state across multiple HTTP requests. Note that there are several
358 options for L<Session::Store|Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store> (although
359 L<Session::Store::FastMmap|Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store::FastMmap>
360 is generally a good choice if you are on Unix; try
361 L<Cache::FileCache|Catalyst::Plugin::Cache::FileCache> if you are on
362 Win32) -- consult L<Session::Store|Catalyst::Plugin::Session::Store> and
363 its subclasses for additional information.
365 =head2 Configure Authentication
367 Although C<__PACKAGE__-E<gt>config(name =E<gt> 'value');> is still
368 supported, newer Catalyst applications tend to place all configuration
369 information in C<myapp.yml> and automatically load this information into
370 C<MyApp-E<gt>config> using the
371 L<ConfigLoader|Catalyst::Plugin::ConfigLoader> plugin.
373 Edit the C<myapp.yml> YAML and update it to match:
379 # Note this first definition would be the same as setting
380 # __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication}->{dbic}->{user_class} = 'MyAppDB::User'
381 # in lib/MyApp.pm (IOW, each hash key becomes a "name:" in the YAML file).
383 # This is the model object created by Catalyst::Model::DBIC from your
384 # schema (you created 'MyAppDB::User' but as the Catalyst startup
385 # debug messages show, it was loaded as 'MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::User').
386 # NOTE: Omit 'MyAppDB::Model' to avoid a component lookup issue in Catalyst 5.66
387 user_class: MyAppDB::User
388 # This is the name of the field in your 'users' table that contains the user's name
390 # This is the name of the field in your 'users' table that contains the password
391 password_field: password
392 # Other options can go here for hashed passwords
394 Inline comments in the code above explain how each field is being used.
396 B<TIP>: Although YAML uses a very simple and easy-to-ready format, it
397 does require the use of a consistent level of indenting. Be sure you
398 line up everything on a given 'level' with the same number of indents.
399 Also, be sure not to use C<tab> characters (YAML does not support them
400 because they are handled inconsistently across editors).
402 =head2 Add Login and Logout Controllers
404 Use the Catalyst create script to create two stub controller files:
406 $ script/myapp_create.pl controller Login
407 $ script/myapp_create.pl controller Logout
409 B<NOTE>: You could easily use a single controller here. For example,
410 you could have a C<User> controller with both C<login> and C<logout>
411 actions. Remember, Catalyst is designed to be very flexible, and leaves
412 such matters up to you, the designer and programmer.
414 Then open C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Login.pm> and add:
422 sub default : Private {
425 # Get the username and password from form
426 my $username = $c->request->params->{username} || "";
427 my $password = $c->request->params->{password} || "";
429 # If the username and password values were found in form
430 if ($username && $password) {
431 # Attempt to log the user in
432 if ($c->login($username, $password)) {
433 # If successful, then let them use the application
434 $c->response->redirect($c->uri_for('/books/list'));
437 # Set an error message
438 $c->stash->{error_msg} = "Bad username or password.";
442 # If either of above don't work out, send to the login page
443 $c->stash->{template} = 'login.tt2';
446 This controller fetches the C<username> and C<password> values from the
447 login form and attempts to perform a login. If successful, it redirects
448 the user to the book list page. If the login fails, the user will stay
449 at the login page but receive an error message. If the C<username> and
450 C<password> values are not present in the form, the user will be taken
451 to the empty login form.
453 Next, create a corresponding method in C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Logout.pm>:
461 sub default : Private {
464 # Clear the user's state
467 # Send the user to the starting point
468 $c->response->redirect($c->uri_for('/'));
472 =head2 Add a Login Form TT Template Page
474 Create a login form by opening C<root/src/login.tt2> and inserting:
476 [% META title = 'Login' %]
479 <form method="post" action=" [% Catalyst.uri_for('/login') %] ">
483 <td><input type="text" name="username" size="40" /></td>
487 <td><input type="password" name="password" size="40" /></td>
490 <td colspan="2"><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" /></td>
496 =head2 Add Valid User Check
498 We need something that provides enforcement for the authentication
499 mechanism -- a I<global> mechanism that prevents users who have not
500 passed authentication from reaching any pages except the login page.
501 This is generally done via an C<auto> action/method (prior to Catalyst
502 v5.66, this sort of thing would go in C<MyApp.pm>, but starting in
503 v5.66, the preferred location is C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Root.pm>).
505 Edit the existing C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Root.pm> class file and insert
506 the following method:
510 Check if there is a user and, if not, forward to login page
514 # Note that 'auto' runs after 'begin' but before your actions and that
515 # 'auto' "chain" (all from application path to most specific class are run)
519 # Allow unauthenticated users to reach the login page
520 if ($c->request->path =~ /login/) {
524 # If a user doesn't exist, force login
525 if (!$c->user_exists) {
526 # Dump a log message to the development server debug output
527 $c->log->debug('***Root::auto User not found, forwarding to /login');
528 # Redirect the user to the login page
529 $c->response->redirect($c->uri_for('/login'));
530 # Return 0 to cancel 'post-auto' processing and prevent use of application
534 # User found, so return 1 to continue with processing after this 'auto'
538 B<Note:> Catalyst provides a number of different types of actions, such
539 as C<Local>, C<Regex>, and C<Private>. You should refer to
540 L<Catalyst::Manual::Intro> for a more detailed explanation, but the
541 following bullet points provide a quick introduction:
547 The majority of application use C<Local> actions for items that respond
548 to user requests and C<Private> actions for those that do not directly
549 respond to user input.
553 There are five types of C<Private> actions: C<begin>, C<end>,
554 C<default>, C<index>, and C<auto>.
558 Unlike the other private C<Private> actions where only a single method
559 is called for each request, I<every> auto action along the chain of
560 namespaces will be called.
564 By placing the authentication enforcement code inside the C<auto> method
565 of C<lib/MyApp/Controller/Root.pm> (or C<lib/MyApp.pm>), it will be
566 called for I<every> request that is received by the entire application.
568 =head2 Displaying Content Only to Authenticated Users
570 Let's say you want to provide some information on the login page that
571 changes depending on whether the user has authenticated yet. To do
572 this, open C<root/src/login.tt2> in your editor and add the following
573 lines to the bottom of the file:
577 # This code illustrates how certain parts of the TT
578 # template will only be shown to users who have logged in
580 [% IF Catalyst.user %]
581 Please Note: You are already logged in as '[% Catalyst.user.username %]'.
582 You can <a href="[% Catalyst.uri_for('/logout') %]">logout</a> here.
584 You need to log in to use this application.
587 Note that this whole block is a comment because the "#" appears
588 immediate after the "[%" (with no spaces in between). Although it
589 can be a handy way to temporarily "comment out" a whole block of
590 TT code, it's probably a little too subtle for use in "normal"
594 Although most of the code is comments, the middle few lines provide a
595 "you are already logged in" reminder if the user returns to the login
596 page after they have already authenticated. For users who have not yet
597 authenticated, a "You need to log in..." message is displayed (note the
598 use of an IF-THEN-ELSE construct in TT).
601 =head2 Try Out Authentication
603 Press C<Ctrl-C> to kill the previous server instance (if it's still
604 running) and restart it:
606 $ script/myapp_server.pl
608 B<IMPORTANT NOTE>: If you happen to be using Internet Explorer, you may
609 need to use the command C<script/myapp_server.pl -k> to enable the
610 keepalive feature in the development server. Otherwise, the HTTP
611 redirect on successful login may not work correctly with IE (it seems to
612 work without -k if you are running the web browser and development
613 server on the same machine). If you are using browser a browser other
614 than IE, it should work either way. If you want to make keepalive the
615 default, you can edit C<script/myapp_server.pl> and change the
616 initialization value for C<$keepalive> to C<1>. (You will need to do
617 this every time you create a new Catalyst application or rebuild the
618 C<myapp_server.pl> script.)
620 Now trying going to L<http://localhost:3000/books/list> and you should
621 be redirected to the login page, hitting Shift+Reload if necessary (the
622 "You are already logged in" message should I<not> appear -- if it does,
623 click the C<logout> button and try again). Note the C<***Root::auto User
624 not found...> debug message in the development server output. Enter
625 username C<test01> and password C<mypass>, and you should be taken to
628 Open C<root/src/books/list.tt2> and add the following lines to the
632 <a href="[% Catalyst.uri_for('/login') %]">Login</a>
633 <a href="[% Catalyst.uri_for('form_create') %]">Create</a>
636 Reload your browser and you should now see a "Login" link at the bottom
637 of the page (as mentioned earlier, you can update template files without
638 reloading the development server). Click this link to return to the
639 login page. This time you I<should> see the "You are already logged in"
642 Finally, click the C<You can logout here> link on the C</login> page.
643 You should stay at the login page, but the message should change to "You
644 need to log in to use this application."
647 =head1 USING PASSWORD HASHES
649 In this section we increase the security of our system by converting
650 from cleartext passwords to SHA-1 password hashes.
652 B<Note:> This section is optional. You can skip it and the rest of the
653 tutorial will function normally.
655 Note that even with the techniques shown in this section, the browser
656 still transmits the passwords in cleartext to your application. We are
657 just avoiding the I<storage> of cleartext passwords in the database by
658 using a SHA-1 hash. If you are concerned about cleartext passwords
659 between the browser and your application, consider using SSL/TLS, made
660 easy with the Catalyst plugin L<Catalyst::Plugin:RequireSSL>.
662 =head2 Get a SHA-1 Hash for the Password
664 Catalyst uses the C<Digest> module to support a variety of hashing
665 algorithms. Here we will use SHA-1 (SHA = Secure Hash Algorithm).
666 First, we should compute the SHA-1 hash for the "mypass" password we are
667 using. The following command-line Perl script provides a "quick and
668 dirty" way to do this:
670 $ perl -MDigest::SHA -e 'print Digest::SHA::sha1_hex("mypass"), "\n"'
671 e727d1464ae12436e899a726da5b2f11d8381b26
674 =head2 Switch to SHA-1 Password Hashes in the Database
676 Next, we need to change the C<password> column of our C<users> table to
677 store this hash value vs. the existing cleartext password. Open
678 C<myapp03.sql> in your editor and enter:
681 -- Convert passwords to SHA-1 hashes
683 UPDATE users SET password = 'e727d1464ae12436e899a726da5b2f11d8381b26' WHERE id = 1;
684 UPDATE users SET password = 'e727d1464ae12436e899a726da5b2f11d8381b26' WHERE id = 2;
685 UPDATE users SET password = 'e727d1464ae12436e899a726da5b2f11d8381b26' WHERE id = 3;
687 Then use the following command to update the SQLite database:
689 $ sqlite3 myapp.db < myapp03.sql
691 B<Note:> We are using SHA-1 hashes here, but many other hashing
692 algorithms are supported. See C<Digest> for more information.
694 =head2 Enable SHA-1 Hash Passwords in
695 C<Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication::Store::DBIC>
697 Edit C<myapp.yml> and update it to match (the C<password_type> and
698 C<password_hash_type> are new, everything else is the same):
704 # Note this first definition would be the same as setting
705 # __PACKAGE__->config->{authentication}->{dbic}->{user_class} = 'MyAppDB::User'
706 # in lib/MyApp.pm (IOW, each hash key becomes a "name:" in the YAML file).
708 # This is the model object created by Catalyst::Model::DBIC from your
709 # schema (you created 'MyAppDB::User' but as the Catalyst startup
710 # debug messages show, it was loaded as 'MyApp::Model::MyAppDB::User').
711 # NOTE: Omit 'MyAppDB::Model' to avoid a component lookup issue in Catalyst 5.66
712 user_class: MyAppDB::User
713 # This is the name of the field in your 'users' table that contains the user's name
715 # This is the name of the field in your 'users' table that contains the password
716 password_field: password
717 # Other options can go here for hashed passwords
718 # Enabled hashed passwords
719 password_type: hashed
720 # Use the SHA-1 hashing algorithm
721 password_hash_type: SHA-1
724 =head2 Try Out the Hashed Passwords
726 Press C<Ctrl-C> to kill the previous server instance (if it's still
727 running) and restart it:
729 $ script/myapp_server.pl
731 You should now be able to go to L<http://localhost:3000/books/list> and
732 login as before. When done, click the "Logout" link on the login page
733 (or point your browser at L<http://localhost:3000/logout>).
737 Kennedy Clark, C<hkclark@gmail.com>
739 Please report any errors, issues or suggestions to the author.
741 Copyright 2006, Kennedy Clark. All rights reserved.
743 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
744 under the same terms as Perl itself.