User: password

In this section, we implement the functionality for a user to update his password

REMARK

There is quite some similarity with the approach/code used in the previous section for updating/editing a user's profile

Preparation

Create controller

Create a new controller class PasswordController.php in the folder app/Http/Controllers/User
- Run the command php artisan make:controller User/PasswordController
Add the methods edit() and update() to the controller

class PasswordController extends Controller
{
    // Edit user password
    public function edit()
    {
        return view('user.password');
    }

    // Update and encrypt user password
    public function update(Request $request)
    {
        // Validate $request

        // Update encrypted user password in the database and redirect to previous page
        return back();
    }
}

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Basic view

Make a basic view password.blade.php inside this folder resources/views/user
Open the file resources/views/user/password.blade.php and update the view
- The file contains a form and includes the shared alert sub-view to display feedback

@extends('layouts.template')

@section('title', 'Update password')

@section('main')
    <h1>New password</h1>
    @include('shared.alert')
    <form action="/user/password" method="post">
        @csrf
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="current_password">Current password</label>
            <input type="password" name="current_password" id="current_password"
                   class="form-control @error('current_password') is-invalid @enderror"
                   placeholder="Current password"
                   value="{{ old('current_password') }}"
                   required>
            @error('current_password')
            <div class="invalid-feedback">{{ $message }}</div>
            @enderror
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="password">New password</label>
            <input type="password" name="password" id="password"
                   class="form-control @error('password') is-invalid @enderror"
                   placeholder="New password"
                   value="{{ old('password') }}"
                   minlength="8"
                   required>
            @error('password')
            <div class="invalid-feedback">{{ $message }}</div>
            @enderror
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="password_confirmation">Confirm new password</label>
            <input type="password" name="password_confirmation" id="password_confirmation"
                   class="form-control"
                   placeholder="Confirm new password"
                   value="{{ old('password_confirmation') }}"
                   minlength="8"
                   required>
        </div>
        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-success">Update password</button>
    </form>
@endsection

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Add routes

Open routes/web.php and add two new routes
- One GET route for showing the form
- One POST route for updating the password

Route::redirect('user', '/user/profile');
Route::middleware(['auth'])->prefix('user')->group(function () {
    Route::get('profile', 'User\ProfileController@edit');
    Route::post('profile', 'User\ProfileController@update');
    Route::get('password', 'User\PasswordController@edit');
    Route::post('password', 'User\PasswordController@update');
});

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Form validation

Add (server-side) form validation to PasswordController.php
- The current password (current_password) is required
- The new password (password) is required, must be at least 8 characters long (min:8) and must be confirmed
If the validation fails, the user will automatically be redirected to the previous page
If the validation is successful, the user will (also) be redirected back and a message is flashed to the session to be displayed on top of the page

public function update(Request $request)
{
    // Validate $request
    $this->validate($request,[
        'current_password' => 'required',
        'password' => 'required|min:8|confirmed',
    ]);

    // Update encrypted user password in the database and redirect to previous page
    session()->flash('success', 'Your password has been updated');
    return back();
}

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REMARKS

For an input field to be confirmed, the field under validation must have a matching field with the postfix _confirmation
- For example, if the field under validation is password, a matching password_confirmation field must be present in the form
You don't need validation rules on the password_confirmation field
- If the confirmation fails, the error will be displayed on the password field, not on the password_confirmation field

Password confirmation error

REMARK

The values old('password') and old('password_confirmation') are empty/not working because Laravel protects the corresponding input fields (password and password_confirmation) and doesn't flash their values to the session!

Update the database

REMARKS

Remember that the passwords (e.g. user1234) are hashed (with bcrypt) before they were inserted into the database
Notice that if the same password is hashed several times, the results will differ because a random salt (included in the resulting hash) is used in the bcrypt algorithm
The hashed passwords look like this: $2y$10$wLqY06r6o9itLGjIb6Jg6OF1.Ype94l2qdtICYZlf5sAt0kWprpra. $2y indicates the version of the used bcrypt algorithm, and $10 denotes the number of rounds. The rest of the hash string is the salt and the resulting hash itself.

Find the logged in user by his id (auth()->id())
Check if the hashed value of $request->current_password matches the value in the database ($user->password) by using the check() method on Laravel's Hash facade
- If not, send the user back with an error message
- If there is a match, use the method make() to hash $request->password and save the result to the database

public function update(Request $request)
{
    // Validate $request
    $this->validate($request, [
        'current_password' => 'required',
        'password' => 'required|min:8|confirmed',
    ]);

    // Update encrypted user password in the database and redirect to previous page
    $user = User::findOrFail(auth()->id());
    if (!Hash::check($request->current_password, $user->password)) {
        session()->flash('danger', "Your current password doesn't mach the password in the database");
        return back();
    }
    $user->password = Hash::make($request->password);
    $user->save();
    session()->flash('success', 'Your password has been updated');
    return back();
}

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Current password faulty

Password changed

EXERCISE: Logout after password change (optional)

Implement the following (alternative) behavior after a password is successfully changed:
- Log the user out
- Send him back to the login page

# User: password

# Preparation

# Create controller

# Basic view

# Add routes

# Form validation

# Update the database

# EXERCISE: Logout after password change (optional)