Authentication and Users

Every user has to authenticate with ConnectyCube before using any ConnectyCube functionality.

When someone connects with an application using ConnectyCube, the application will need to obtain a session token which provides temporary, secure access to ConnectyCube APIs.

A session token is an opaque string that identifies a user and an application.

Create session token

As a starting point, the user’s session token needs to be created allowing user any further actions within the app. Pass login/email and password to identify a user:

CubeUser user = CubeUser(login: "user_login", password: "super_sequre_password");

createSession(user)
    .then((cubeSession) {})
    .catchError((error){});

Note: With the request above, the user is created automatically on the fly upon session creation using the login (or email) and password from the request parameters.

Important: For better security it is recommended to deny the session creation without an existing user.
For this, set ‘Session creation without an existing user entity’ to Deny under the Application -> Overview -> Permissions in the admin panel.

Flutter SDK provides support for next social providers:

CubeProvider.FACEBOOK;
CubeProvider.TWITTER;

The generalized method for signing-in via social provider is:

String socialProvider; // possible providers CubeProvider.FACEBOOK, CubeProvider.TWITTER
String accessToken;
String accessTokenSecret; // required only for CubeProvider.TWITTER provider

createSessionUsingSocialProvider(socialProvider, accessToken, accessTokenSecret)
  .then((cubeUser) {})
  .catchError((error){});

Get Facebook Access token

In order to use Facebook authentication you need to get an Access token first. Flutter has a few plugins that provide this feature. We will use the flutter_facebook_auth in our example. First, you must configure each supported platform according to the plugin official documentation web page. Then you can request the login via Facebook API and sign in to ConnectyCube using its credentials. Follow the code below on how to do this:

FacebookAuth.instance.login(permissions: ['email', 'public_profile']).then((result) {
  if (result.status == LoginStatus.success) {
    var accessToken = result.accessToken!.token;

    createSessionUsingSocialProvider(CubeProvider.FACEBOOK, accessToken).then((cubeUser) {
      // `cubeUser` - the instance of the signed-in CubeUser
    }).catchError((onError){
      // process an error of signing-in to the ConnectyCube
    });
  } else {
    // process other statuses (cancelled, failed, operationInProgress)
  }
});

Get Twitter Auth token and Auth Token Secret

In order to use Twitter authentication you need to get an Auth token and Auth Token Secret first. Flutter has a few plugins that provide this feature. We will use the twitter_login in our example. First, you must configure each supported platform according to the plugin README. Then you can request the login via Twitter API and sign in to ConnectyCube using its credentials. Follow the code below on how to do this:

var apiKey = ''; // the API Key from the Twitter developer console
var apiSecretKey = ''; // the API Secret from the Twitter developer console
var redirectURI = ''; // the registered Callback URLs in TwitterApp

TwitterLogin(apiKey: apiKey, apiSecretKey: apiSecretKey, redirectURI: redirectURI).loginV2(forceLogin: true).then((authResult) {
  if (authResult.status == TwitterLoginStatus.loggedIn) {
    var authToken = authResult.authToken!;
    var authSecret = authResult.authTokenSecret!;

    createSessionUsingSocialProvider(CubeProvider.TWITTER, authToken, authSecret).then((cubeUser) {
      // `cubeUser` - the instance of the signed-in CubeUser
    }).catchError((onError){
      // process an error of signing-in to the ConnectyCube
    });
  } else {
    // process other statuses (cancelledByUser, error)
  }
});

Authentication via phone number

The detailed guides on How to configure Firebase in your project and How to get accessToken are presented in our separated section How to Setup Firebase.

After receiving the accessToken you can use it for authentication using next API:

createSessionUsingFirebasePhone(projectId, accessToken).then((cubeUser) {
  // user successfully authenticated on the Connectycube
}).catchError((onError){
  // error occurs during authentication on the Connectycube
});

This authentication method supports Firebase Email/password sign-in and Google Sign-In.

The detailed guides on How to configure Firebase in your project and How to get accessToken are presented in our separated section How to Setup Firebase.

After receiving the accessToken you can use it for authentication using next API:

createSessionUsingFirebaseEmail(
  DefaultFirebaseOptions.currentPlatform.projectId,
  idToken)
.then((cubeUser) {
  // user successfully authenticated on the Connectycube
}).catchError((onError) {
  // error occurs during authentication on the Connectycube
});

Authentication via external identity provider

Custom Identity Provider (CIdP) feature is necessary if you have your own user database and want to authenticate users in ConnectyCube against it. It works the same way as Facebook/Twitter SSO.

With Custom Identity Provider feature you can continue use your user database instead of storing/copying user data to ConnectyCube database.

CIdP high level integration flow

To get started with CIdP integration, check the Custom Identity Provider guide which describes high level integration flow.

Once you done with the setup mapping in ConnectyCube Dashboard, it’s time to verify the integration. To perform CIdP login, the same ConnectyCube User Login API is used. You just use existing login request params to pass your external user token:

CubeUser user = CubeUser(login: "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6MTIzNDU2Nzg5LCJuYW1lIjoiSm9zZXBoIn0.OpOSSw7e485LOP5PrzScxHb7SR6sAOMRckfFwi4rp7o");

createSession(user)
    .then((cubeUser) {})
    .catchError((error){});

Once the login is successful, ConnectyCube will create an underalying User entity, so then you can use ConnectyCube APIs in a same way as you do with a normal login. With CIdP we do not have/store any user password in ConnectyCube User entity.

Following further integration, you may need to connect to Chat. In a case of CIdP login, you do not have a user password. In such cases you should use ConnectyCube session token as a password for chat connection. Follow the Connect to Chat with CIdP guide.

Create guest session

To create a session with guest user use the following code:

var user = CubeUser(isGuest: true, fullName: 'Awesome Smith');

createSession(user)
    .then((cubeSession) {})
    .catchError((error){});

Session expiration

Expiration time for session token is 2 hours after last request to API. If you perform query with expired token,
you will receive the error Required session does not exist. In this case you need to recreate a session token.

Use CubeSessionManager to get information about current session state.

bool isValid = CubeSessionManager.instance.isActiveSessionValid();
/// isValid == true - you have an active session
/// isValid == false - you have an expired session and you should create new one

ConnectyCube Flutter SDK has the special callbаck for automatic session restoring. Just set it during the initialization ConnectyCube Flutter SDK in your project.

initConnectyCube() {
    init("XXX", "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", onSessionRestore: restoreSession);
}

Future<CubeSession> restoreSession() {
  CubeUser savedUser; //some CubeUser, which was saved before

  return createSession(savedUser);
}

Destroy session token

To destroy a session use the following code:

int sessionId = 12345; // skip this parameter to delete current session

deleteSession(sessionId)
    .then((voidResult) {})
    .catchError((error){});

// used to delete all session except current
deleteSessionsExceptCurrent()
    .then((voidResult) {})
    .catchError((error){});

Only login (or email) + password are required for user to be created. Other parameters are optional:

CubeUser user = CubeUser(
    login: 'marvin18',
    password: 'supersecurepwd',
    email: 'awesomeman@gmail.com',
    fullName: 'Marvin Simon',
    phone: '47802323143',
    website: 'https://dozensofdreams.com',
    customData: "{middle_name: 'Bartoleo'}");

signUp(user)
    .then((cubeUser) {})
    .catchError((error){});

User profile update

CubeUser user = CubeUser(
    login: 'marvin18',
    fullName: 'Marvin Simon');

updateUser(user)
      .then((updatedUser) {})
      .catchError((error) {});

If you want to change your password, you need to provide 2 fields: password and oldPassword. Updated user entity will be returned.

CubeUser user = CubeUser(
  login: 'marvin18',
  password: "newPassword",
  oldPassword: "oldPassword");

updateUser(user)
  .then((updatedUser) {})
  .catchError((error) {});

User avatar

You can set a user’s avatar. You just need to upload it to the ConnectyCube cloud storage and then connect to user.

File file; //some file from device storage
CubeUser user; // some user to set avatar

uploadFile(file, false)
  .then((cubeFile) {
    user.avatar = cubeFile.uid;
    return updateUser(user);
  })
  .catchError((error) {});

Now, other users can get you avatar:

CubeUser user; // some user with avatar

String avatarUrl = getPrivateUrlForUid(user.avatar);

Password reset

It’s possible to reset a password via email:

resetPassword("awesomeman@gmail.com")
    .then((voidResult) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

If provided email is valid - an email with password reset instruction will be sent to it.

Retrieve users

Retrieve user by ID

int userId = 22;

getUserById(userId)
    .then((cubeUser) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve users by IDs

Set<int> ids = {22, 33};

getAllUsersByIds(ids)
    .then((pagedResult) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

String login = "marvin18";

getUserByLogin(login)
    .then((cubeUser) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve user by email

String email = "marvin18@example.com";

getUserByEmail(email)
    .then((cubeUser) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve users by full name

String fullName = "Marvin Samuel";

getUsersByFullName(fullName)
    .then((pagedResult) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve user by phone number

String phoneNumber = "47802323143";

getUserByPhoneNumber(phoneNumber)
  .then((cubeUser) {})
  .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve user by external ID

var externalUserId = '6304a4399cf9db00200c1bd7';

getUserByExternalUserId(externalUserId)
  .then((cubeUser) {})
  .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve users by tags

Set<String> tags = {"apple"};

getUsersByTags(tags)
    .then((pagedResult) {})
    .catchError((error) {});

Retrieve users by parameters

There is an available function for getting users by all available parameters and filters provided by link

var paginator = RequestPaginator(50, page: 0);
var sorter = RequestSorter.desc('created_at');

var parameters = {
    'login': 'smith1',
    'phone': '6754987345566',
    'user_tags[nin]': ['vip'],
    'updated_at[lte]': '2018-12-06T09:21:41Z'
};

getUsers(parameters, paginator: paginator, sorter: sorter).then((response) {
    var foundUsers = response?.items;
}).catchError((onError){

});

Delete user

A user can delete himself from the platform:

int userId = 123456;

deleteUser(userId)
    .then((cubeUser) {})
    .catchError((error) {});