Add Authentication to Angular With NGXS For State Management

TL;DR: In the first part of the state management in Angular with NGXS series, we learned about the basics of NGXS, how it works, and how to use it to manage our application's state. In part 2, I will show you how to use Auth0 with NGXS to manage use-related states.

User State Management

The user store will work similarly to how the menus state management works. I won't detail how each part of the state works and will focus more on the Auth0 and NGXS integration.

The starter app uses the Auth0 SDK directly and manages the roles through the

RolesService

. This tutorial section will walk you through migrating to using Auth0's SDK through NGXS and managing the roles by using the NGXS's

Select

function.

Create User Model

Let's start with defining the interface for the user state object. Open

user.model.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/user.model.ts

import { User as Auth0User } from "@auth0/auth0-spa-js";

export interface UserStateModel {
  userDetails: Auth0User | undefined;
}

Create a barrel export for the

user

directory with the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/index.ts

export * from "./user.model";

To further simplify our imports, add the user folder to the barrel export in the

state

folder and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/index.ts

export * from "./menus";

// ✨ New 👇
export * from "./user";

We have three user-related Actions that we need for our user Store. Login, logout, and user changed Action to keep the user details in our Store in sync with Auth0's SDK.

Since we have several user Actions that will originate from the Navbar component, you can group them under

AllNavbarAction

to ensure you aren't reusing these Actions in a different part of the application (following the Good Action Hygiene pattern).

Because the

UserChangedFromAuth0SDK

Action originates from Auth0's SDK, let's name the source part of the Action type as

Auth0 SDK

Open

user.actions.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/user.actions.ts

import { User as Auth0User } from "@auth0/auth0-spa-js";

export namespace User {
  export namespace AllNavbarActions {
    export class LoginFlowInitiated {
      static readonly type = "[Navbar] Login Flow Initiated";
    }

    export class LogoutFlowInitiated {
      static readonly type = "[Navbar] Logout Flow Initiated";
    }
  }
  export class UserChangedFromAuth0SDK {
    static readonly type = "[Auth0 SDK] User Changed";
    constructor(public payload: { user: Auth0User | undefined }) {}
  }
}

Add

user.actions

to the barrel export. Open

index.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/index.ts

export * from "./user.model";

// ✨ New 👇
export * from "./user.actions";

Update application to use user actions

Like what you did with menus-related functionalities in the first part of the article, let's update the application's user-related functionalities to use NGXS's Actions. You can use Actions by injecting the Store class and calling the

dispatch

function with the Action name you defined in the previous section.

Open

nav-bar.component.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/shared/components/nav-bar/nav-bar.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { IconDefinition } from "@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core";
import { faHome, faUser, faUtensils } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";
import { AuthService } from "@auth0/auth0-angular";

// ✨ New 👇
import { Store } from "@ngxs/store";
import { User } from "src/app/core";

export interface INavBarMenuLinkProps {
  to: string;
  icon: IconDefinition;
  label: string;
}

@Component({
  selector: "app-nav-bar",
  templateUrl: "./nav-bar.component.html",
  styleUrls: ["./nav-bar.component.scss"],
})
export class NavBarComponent {
  faUser = faUser;
  isAuthenticated$ = this.authService.isAuthenticated$;
  user$ = this.authService.user$;

  navOptions: INavBarMenuLinkProps[] = [
    { to: "/home", label: "Home", icon: faHome },
    { to: "/menu", label: "Menu", icon: faUtensils },
  ];

  constructor(
    private authService: AuthService,
    // ✨ New 👇
    private store: Store
  ) {}

  loginWithRedirect(): void {
    // ✨ New 👇
    this.store.dispatch(new User.AllNavbarActions.LoginFlowInitiated());
  }

  logout(): void {
    // ✨ New 👇
    this.store.dispatch(new User.AllNavbarActions.LogoutFlowInitiated());
  }
}

Create User State

Before creating individual selectors for slices of the user state, let's start by creating the boilerplate required to use this feature. NGXS uses an

Injectable

class with an additional

State

decorator. Create

user.state.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/user.state.ts

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { State } from "@ngxs/store";
import { UserStateModel } from "./user.model";

@State<UserStateModel>({
  name: "user",
  defaults: {
    userDetails: undefined,
  },
})
@Injectable()
export class UserState {}

Next, Let's add some utility Selectors for

user

isLoggedIn

userRoles

, and

isAdmin

to easily let your components access these properties. Open

user.state.ts

and update it with the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/user.state.ts

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { UserStateModel } from "./user.model";

// ✨ New 👇
import { State, Selector } from "@ngxs/store";

// ✨ New 👇
import { environment } from "src/environments/environment";

// ✨ New 👇
import { USER_ROLES } from "../../services";

@State<UserStateModel>({
  name: "user",
  defaults: {
    userDetails: undefined,
  },
})
@Injectable()
export class UserState {
  // ✨ New 👇
  @Selector()
  static user(state: UserStateModel) {
    return state.userDetails;
  }

  // ✨ New 👇
  @Selector()
  static isLoggedIn(state: UserStateModel) {
    return !!state.userDetails;
  }

  // ✨ New 👇
  @Selector()
  static userRoles(state: UserStateModel) {
    return (
      state.userDetails?.[`${environment.auth.audience}/roles`] || undefined
    );
  }

  // ✨ New 👇
  @Selector()
  static isAdmin(state: UserStateModel) {
    return state.userDetails?.[`${environment.auth.audience}/roles`]?.includes(
      USER_ROLES.MENU_ADMIN
    );
  }
}

Add

user.state

to the list of exports in

index.ts

👇

// src/app/core/state/user/index.ts

export * from "./user.model";
export * from "./user.actions";

// ✨ New 👇
export * from "./user.state";

Update application to use user selectors

The user role route guard previously used the value of the roles from

RolesService

. Since you now have a user roles Selector, you can replace the current implementation with a Selector created in the previous section. Open

user-role.guard.ts

and add the following code👇

// src/app/core/guards/user-role.guard.ts

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import {
  CanActivate,
  Router,
  ActivatedRouteSnapshot,
  RouterStateSnapshot,
} from "@angular/router";
import { Observable, of } from "rxjs";
import { catchError, map } from "rxjs/operators";

// ✨ New 👇
import { Store } from "@ngxs/store";
import { UserState } from "..";

@Injectable({ providedIn: "root" })
export class UserRoleGuard implements CanActivate {
  constructor(
    private router: Router,
    // ✨ New 👇
    private store: Store
  ) {}

  canActivate(
    route: ActivatedRouteSnapshot,
    state: RouterStateSnapshot
  ): Observable<boolean> {
    // ✨ Update this 👇
    return this.store.select(UserState.userRoles).pipe(
      map((roles) => {
        if (roles && roles.includes(route?.data?.role)) {
          return true;
        }

        // redirect the user to home
        this.router.navigate(["/home"]);
        return false;
      }),
      catchError((err) => {
        // redirect the user to home
        this.router.navigate(["/home"]);
        return of(false);
      })
    );
  }
}

Another place we use user-related information is the Navbar. We display user information and conditionally display the login and logout button depending on the user's

isAuthenticated

state. Open

nav-bar.component.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/shared/components/nav-bar/nav-bar.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { IconDefinition } from "@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core";
import { faHome, faUser, faUtensils } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";
import { Store } from "@ngxs/store";

// ✨ New 👇
import { User, UserState } from "src/app/core";

export interface INavBarMenuLinkProps {
  to: string;
  icon: IconDefinition;
  label: string;
}

@Component({
  selector: "app-nav-bar",
  templateUrl: "./nav-bar.component.html",
  styleUrls: ["./nav-bar.component.scss"],
})
export class NavBarComponent {
  faUser = faUser;

  // ✨ New 👇
  isAuthenticated$ = this.store.select(UserState.isLoggedIn);

  // ✨ New 👇
  user$ = this.store.select(UserState.user);

  navOptions: INavBarMenuLinkProps[] = [
    { to: "/home", label: "Home", icon: faHome },
    { to: "/menu", label: "Menu", icon: faUtensils },
  ];

  constructor(private store: Store) {}

  loginWithRedirect(): void {
    this.store.dispatch(new User.AllNavbarActions.LoginFlowInitiated());
  }

  logout(): void {
    this.store.dispatch(new User.AllNavbarActions.LogoutFlowInitiated());
  }
}

The profile page displays some information about the user, such as name and photo. Since this is stored as part of the user Store, let's also update this to use the user Selector. Open

profile.component.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/features/profile/profile.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";

// ✨ New 👇
import { Store } from "@ngxs/store";

// ✨ New 👇
import { UserState } from "src/app/core";

@Component({
  selector: "app-profile",
  templateUrl: "./profile.component.html",
  styleUrls: ["./profile.component.scss"],
})
export class ProfileComponent {
  // ✨ New 👇
  user$ = this.store.select(UserState.user);

  // ✨ New 👇
  constructor(private store: Store) {}
}

We display an

Add

button when the logged-in user is an admin user on the Menu Items page. You can read more about setting up admin users on Auth0 in this blog post. Open

menu-items.component.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/features/menu/menu-items/menu-items.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { ActivatedRoute, Router } from "@angular/router";
import { Store } from "@ngxs/store";

// ✨ New 👇
import { MenusState, UserState } from "src/app/core";

@Component({
  selector: "app-menu-items",
  templateUrl: "./menu-items.component.html",
  styles: [
    `
      :host {
        width: 100%;
        height: 100%;
      }
    `,
  ],
})
export class MenuItemsComponent {
  menuItems$ = this.store.select(MenusState.menuItems);

  // ✨ New 👇
  isAdmin$ = this.store.select(UserState.isAdmin);

  constructor(
    private router: Router,
    private activatedRoute: ActivatedRoute,
    private store: Store
  ) {}

  addMenuItem(): void {
    this.router.navigate(["add"], { relativeTo: this.activatedRoute });
  }
}

Lastly, we display the

Edit

and

Delete

buttons when the logged-in user is an admin on the Menu Item page. Open

menu-item.component.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/features/menu/menu-item/menu-item.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { Location } from "@angular/common";
import { ActivatedRoute, Router } from "@angular/router";
import { map, switchMap } from "rxjs/operators";
import { Store } from "@ngxs/store";

// ✨ New 👇
import { MenusState, UserState } from "src/app/core";

@Component({
  selector: "app-menu-item",
  templateUrl: "./menu-item.component.html",
  styleUrls: ["./menu-item.component.scss"],
})
export class MenuItemComponent {
  menuItemId$ = this.activatedRoute.params.pipe(map((params) => params.id));

  menuItem$ = this.menuItemId$.pipe(
    switchMap((id) => this.store.select(MenusState.menuItem(id)))
  );

  // ✨ New 👇
  isAdmin$ = this.store.select(UserState.isAdmin);

  constructor(
    private activatedRoute: ActivatedRoute,
    private router: Router,
    private location: Location,
    private store: Store
  ) {}

  back(): void {
    this.location.back();
  }

  navigateTo(url: string): void {
    this.router.navigateByUrl(`${this.router.url}/${url}`);
  }
}

Create User Action Handlers

Like the Menus action handlers, the User state will use the

Action

decorator to handle user-related actions. For the User state, the action handlers will be where the app interact with Auth0's SDK - logging in, logging out, and updating the state with Auth0's user object.

Let's start with the login and logout action handlers that trigger their respective flows in Auth0's SDK. Open

user.state.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/user.state.ts

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";

// ✨ New 👇
import { State, Action, StateContext, Store, Selector } from "@ngxs/store";
// ✨ New 👇
import { AuthService } from "@auth0/auth0-angular";

import { environment } from "src/environments/environment";
import { UserStateModel } from "./user.model";
import { User } from "./user.actions";
import { USER_ROLES } from "../../services";

@State<UserStateModel>({
  name: "user",
  defaults: {
    userDetails: undefined,
  },
})
@Injectable()
export class UserState {
  constructor(
    private store: Store,
    // ✨ New 👇
    private authService: AuthService
  ) {}

  // ✨ New 👇
  @Action(User.AllNavbarActions.LoginFlowInitiated)
  login() {
    this.authService.loginWithRedirect();
  }

  // ✨ New 👇
  @Action(User.AllNavbarActions.LogoutFlowInitiated)
  logout() {
    this.authService.logout();
  }

  @Selector()
  static user(state: UserStateModel) {
    return state.userDetails;
  }

  @Selector()
  static isLoggedIn(state: UserStateModel) {
    return !!state.userDetails;
  }

  @Selector()
  static userRoles(state: UserStateModel) {
    return (
      state.userDetails?.[`${environment.auth.audience}/roles`] || undefined
    );
  }

  @Selector()
  static isAdmin(state: UserStateModel) {
    return state.userDetails?.[`${environment.auth.audience}/roles`]?.includes(
      USER_ROLES.MENU_ADMIN
    );
  }
}

To keep the user observable from the Auth0's SDK and our User State in sync, create a subscription to listen to

AuthService

user$

property and dispatch the

UserChangedFromAuth0SDK

whenever the observable emits a new value.

UserChangedFromAuth0SDK

will then update the User State with the new user data from Auth0. Open

user.state.ts

and add the following code 👇

// src/app/core/state/user/user.state.ts

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { State, Action, StateContext, Store, Selector } from "@ngxs/store";
import { AuthService } from "@auth0/auth0-angular";
import { environment } from "src/environments/environment";
import { USER_ROLES } from "../../services";
import { UserStateModel } from "./user.model";
import { User } from "./user.actions";

@State<UserStateModel>({
  name: "user",
  defaults: {
    userDetails: undefined,
  },
})
@Injectable()
export class UserState {
  constructor(private store: Store, private authService: AuthService) {
    // ✨ New 👇
    this.listenToUserChange();
  }

  // ✨ New 👇
  @Action(User.UserChangedFromAuth0SDK)
  userChangedFromAuth0SDK(
    ctx: StateContext<UserStateModel>,
    actions: User.UserChangedFromAuth0SDK
  ) {
    const state = ctx.getState();
    ctx.setState({
      ...state,
      userDetails: actions.payload.user,
    });
  }

  @Action(User.AllNavbarActions.LoginFlowInitiated)
  login() {
    this.authService.loginWithRedirect();
  }

  @Action(User.AllNavbarActions.LogoutFlowInitiated)
  logout() {
    this.authService.logout();
  }

  // ✨ New 👇
  private listenToUserChange(): void {
    this.authService.user$.subscribe((user) => {
      this.store.dispatch(
        new User.UserChangedFromAuth0SDK({ user: user || undefined })
      );
    });
  }

  @Selector()
  static user(state: UserStateModel) {
    return state.userDetails;
  }

  @Selector()
  static isLoggedIn(state: UserStateModel) {
    return !!state.userDetails;
  }

  @Selector()
  static userRoles(state: UserStateModel) {
    return (
      state.userDetails?.[`${environment.auth.audience}/roles`] || undefined
    );
  }

  @Selector()
  static isAdmin(state: UserStateModel) {
    return state.userDetails?.[`${environment.auth.audience}/roles`]?.includes(
      USER_ROLES.MENU_ADMIN
    );
  }
}

Update app module

You will then need to add

UserState

to the

NgxsModule

initialization. Open

app.module.ts

and add the following code.

// src/app/app.module.ts

import { BrowserModule } from "@angular/platform-browser";
import { NgModule } from "@angular/core";
import { AuthHttpInterceptor, AuthModule } from "@auth0/auth0-angular";

import { AppRoutingModule } from "./app-routing.module";
import { AppComponent } from "./app.component";
import { NavBarModule } from "./shared";
import { environment } from "src/environments/environment";
import { HttpClientModule, HTTP_INTERCEPTORS } from "@angular/common/http";
import { NgxsModule } from "@ngxs/store";
import { NgxsReduxDevtoolsPluginModule } from "@ngxs/devtools-plugin";

// ✨ Update this 👇
import { MenusState, UserState } from "./core";

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    BrowserModule,
    HttpClientModule,
    AuthModule.forRoot({
      ...environment.auth,
      cacheLocation: "localstorage",
      httpInterceptor: {
        allowedList: [
          `${environment.serverUrl}/api/menu/items`,
          `${environment.serverUrl}/api/menu/items/*`,
        ],
      },
    }),
    AppRoutingModule,
    NavBarModule,
    // ✨ Update this 👇
    NgxsModule.forRoot([MenusState, UserState], { developmentMode: true }),
    NgxsReduxDevtoolsPluginModule.forRoot(),
  ],
  declarations: [AppComponent],
  bootstrap: [AppComponent],
  providers: [
    {
      provide: HTTP_INTERCEPTORS,
      useClass: AuthHttpInterceptor,
      multi: true,
    },
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Checkpoint: There aren't any visible functional changes added in this section. The difference between the app's current state and the previous checkpoint is its underlying implementation. The app now uses NGXS versus a
BehaviorSubject
to manage user-related states. The app should display the login button with an empty dashboard when the user is not authenticated and display the logout button with the logged-in user's name along with the menu items on the dashboard when a user is authenticated. Clicking on the 'Log in' and 'Log out' buttons should trigger their respective flows using Auth0's SDK and update your application's state. If you open Redux Devtools in your browser, you should see the user state and actions every time you perform any user-related actions.

Conclusion

State management is a key component when building applications. You added two Stores to our demo application to manage two distinct states - menus and users. This is a relatively small demo application with a few Stores, Actions, and Selectors to show how you can use NGXS to manage your Application's state and use NGXS with Auth0's SDK to handle user-related functionalities.

About the author

William Juan

Frontend Developer

I am a Frontend Developer working primarily in the web and hybrid mobile spaces. The majority of my work has revolved around the Angular ecosystem, including working with other Angular-related frameworks such as NativeScript and Ionic. My passion lies in converting a design into code and achieving a close to pixel-perfect end-product.View profile

Add Authentication to Angular With NGXS For State Management

User State Management

Create User Model

Create User Actions

Update application to use user actions

Create User State

Update application to use user selectors

Create User Action Handlers

Update app module

Conclusion

William Juan

State Management in Angular Using NGXS

State Management in Angular Using Akita - Pt. 1

State Management in Angular Using NgRx: Pt. 1