Question

I am using the FatFractal Javascript SDK, and I have noticed that the login() function succeeds even for usernames that have not been previously registered with my application. I would like to force users to step through a registration process before having access to my app. Is there a way to restrict login access if a username has not been previously registered on my app’s backend?

Edit: Here are some simplified code snippets to help illustrate the problem…

Pertinent variables:

ff = new FatFractal();
var pword = $("#login-input-pw").val();
var uname = $("#login-input-email").val();  

My login function wired to an HTML form:

function login(){
    ff.login(uname,pword,function(user){
        // do stuff (change page, load data, etc.)
    },function(statusCode, responseText){
        $("#loginError").html("Error: " + JSON.parse(responseText).statusMessage + ".");
        $("#login-input-pw").val('');
    });
}

In situations where a username is entered that has not yet been registered with my app, I would expect the ff.login() failure callback function to execute. However, for all new login attempts (obviously, an existing username + incorrect password combo do not work), the success callback function executes, and the user is granted access to the app.

Answer 1

Out of the box, FatFractal applications allow “auto registration”, which is what you’re seeing here. That allows a simplified flow on your clients, but isn’t always what you want.

To change the behavior, open your ff-config/application.ffdl file. You should see a line like this, near the top:

SET ActivateUsersOnReg          true

Change that to false, then redeploy your app, either locally via ffef deploylocal, or to the cloud via ffef deployFFFabric, and you’re good to go.